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LIFE'S 



Perfected Steps; 



OR, 



THE KING'S PATHWAY 



PEACE AND HAPPINESS 



SARAH MATHER GIBBS. 



If mechanics were as ignorant of the machines they nse as individuals 
are of the great human machine, every one of them would be discharged. " 



CHICAGO : 

illinois printing and binding company. 
i88q. 







3883, 
BY TEE AUTHOR. 



LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO MY DAUGHTERS, 

JENNIE and BESSIE. 



CONTENTS. 



Pag*. 

Infancy 1 1 

Nursery Life — , 20 

School-days 43 

Youth 61 

Marriage , 87 

Ripening Years 103 

Going Home 125 



PREFACE 



What is a book? The pages of some life un- 
folded. And thought! what is it? The hidden 
meaning between the lines ; as the author says to you, 
the reality of himself or herself, as each thread of 
life is picked up and dissected. Books contain for us 
the reality of some life. 

In conceiving the idea of giving to the growing 
youth a perfected thought of life, I have had some 
experience myself to draw these pages from, hav- 
ing traveled along the road and been taught the way 
by digging from life's hard problem the mystified 
answer. 

I feel it would be a loving duty to scatter a few 
seeds of kindness along the path of the young people, 
whom I claim as friends, hoping that all will not fall 
upon stony ground, and that some of the good herein 
contained may take root and grow. 

By thus shedding a ray of light along the shad- 
owed wayside of the many busy toilers scattered all 
over this broad land of ours, may the thought of the 
writer, sent forth in all sincerity, help lighten some 
of the burdens, and diffuse and blend into each one's 
life the true harmony of thought this little volume 
is intended to convey. 




BABYHOOD. 



CHAPTEK I. 



BABYHOOD. 

"Come in the morning, so fresh and so sweet, 

Over earth's darkness, heaven's dawn-beams to meet, 

Early consider your ways and His will, 

Best in the even by Love's peaceful rill." 

— Havergal. 



O, morn of life! O, shining Light! 

Awake a new born soul, 
Which, soaring upward in its flight, 

Finds heaven its surest goal. 

A tiny thought imbued with life, 

A touch might rudely blast; 
Thou'rt launched upon this ebbing tide, 

Almost too frail to last. 

Methinks thou know'st not whence thou came'st, 

Or why thou should'st be here; 
Fret not, thou wee one, — God, who gave 

This life to thee — is near 

To show to thee the way, the truth, 

That all who come must learn; 
Lean now on Him, He shields thy youth, 

To thee can come no harm. 

(ID 



12 life's perfected steps. 

Unfold thy thought — expand thy mind, 

Thou'rt guided on thy way; 
So shalt thy footsteps, like the hind, 

Ne'er falter, — never stray. 

You come to us in perfect mould, 

Like He, who came to save; 
He taught us then in days of old, 

How to be good and brave. 

God loves thee, keeps thee, all His own, 

Hast thou then aught to fear? 
Anchored here safe, — work and be strong 
Assured because He's near. 

Then falter not, live, love and strive 

To win a life of fame; 
Be all that's noble, pure and bright, 

Just work in His dear name. 

Only a baby! Why do we hear that expression 
so frequently ? Because a wee little life seems so 
small to us of maturer years. Because Ave have not 
weighed the responsibility of this one great oppor- 
tunity, which has come into our hearts, lives and 
homes. 

Because it is such a common thing to have a win- 
some, prattling, loving little life dropped down in 
our very midst, possibly we do not appreciate or un- 
derstand such a blessing. Judging from the lives 
of the human race, taken in all its phases, surely 
proves this true. 

What resources are lying undeveloped yonder, in 
that little bundle of thought and life, so cosily 
dressed, and so carefully tended? Dare we predict 



BABYHOOD. 13 

the future of one of God's little ones sent to us 
from out the great unknown ? Dare we scarcely face 
the responsibility of the stupendous undertaking of 
caring for the physical, mental and spiritual needs 
of one little child just starting out on the boundless 
ocean of care, sorrow, joy and happiness of a check- 
ered human life ? 

This little bud of promise needs much at our 
hands. The most careful, considerate thought, the 
kindest words, just decision, a deep pure love for 
the good of the life just ushered in. 

A pure thought of healthful, bracing trust, that 
all, that is good, is for them. Building strong bodies 
and minds, that they may be able to grasp, in this 
early time, the true understanding of life, and thus 
in the future learn to live it. 

Think you, we can diffuse over this unfolding too 
much of the truth as taught by the Divine Teacher? 
How beautiful thoughts, like the dew-drops, 
strengthen the physical as well as the mental 
growth. 

From this unfolding thought, dear reader, may 
yon some lesson glean, which shall say to you, as you 
gaze into the depths of those pure, innocent eyes, 
into the soul's deepest thought, let that index of 
the inner soul speak to you and say: 

Help me to live a true life, help me to build a 
stable foundation for all my future years, so that 
each unfolding step, which my faltering feet may 
take, shall be one more link by which a stepping 



14 life's perfected steps. 

stone may be achieved to make a firm adamantine 
rock, upon which to build all that's good and pure, 
noble and true. 

Help me to shun that which will in any way 
change or dwarf this passive clay awaiting the 
moulder's willing hand. Give me from out your 
abundant store of wisdom, harmony, understanding 
and heart's purest love, a small portion, that the un- 
revealed in my little life, may grow and grow, re- 
sponding, ever and anon, to the good it finds in these 
my heart teachers. Let only loving thoughts, words 
and deeds come near this little helpless life, just 
sent to brighten ours. 

The moulder's work is now fairly begun. How 
every sweet smile, every satisfied cooing sound of 
the baby boy or girl, reflects the atmosphere around 
it. 

If the sunshine of loving thought, the influence 
of good lives hover over the little innocent, it re- 
sponds also with a gentleness and restfulness, which 
builds a growth of body and mind strong, lasting 
and true. 

Susceptible to every wave of thought it absorbs 
and retains much which is hardly understood as sub- 
stance. 

The soft, dewy rain gently dropping freshness 
on bud and flower, with the gentleness of warm, 
mellow sunshine, come to budding rose carefully 
strengthening, carefully helping the growth and 
assisting toward the maturity of perfect fullness 



BABYHOOD. 15 

in much the same way as the maturer, wiser and 
more experienced minds lead on and bless the early 
life of the young child. 

In peaceful, quiet ways we influence and build 
up the character of these tender years. They, like 
the petals of the undeveloped flower, expand gradu- 
ally, and receive into their little lives this gentle, 
loving, watchful care. 

. Were the tempests to come, rudely shaking this 
bud, we should miss the perfection this flower might 
have developed, and the beauty we might have pos- 
sessed would have been desolated forever. 

Or were the scorching rays of a noonday sun to 
descend, withering and blighting by the too much- 
ness of heat and light, ruin is the result. All i& 
lost and nothing gained. 

By a lack of wisdom and understanding, we readily 
see how easily in handling a nervous, delicate young 
mind and body a cold, unfeeling parent, by his o> 
her harshness, irritable, careless thought (and of all 
the cold indifference seems the worst), dwarfs, 
cramps and almost kills the true development of 
these trusting natures. Certainly changes and dis- 
torts the reality of life in these pure germs of thought 
which have been entrusted to their care. 

And by being over-careful of them are these 
guardians liable to err. Too much care and petting- 
is like the tempest and the rays of the broiling sun 
upon the tender plants. 

Could we understand one true idea of the begin- 



16 life's perfected steps. 

ning of life: Bending the twig, not breaking it. 
By always trying to guide the thought aright, by- 
keeping a bright, cheery thought about them, the 
physical development takes care of and grows of 
itself. 

By controlling the inner thought life, and lead- 
ing, not driving, parents, teachers and guardians are 
the conquerors of the world. Truly has it been said : 
" The mothers who rock the cradles shape the des- 
tinies of the future men and women." 

Could we, my friends, learn that thought controls 
life from the beginning, what a new awakening for 
humanity ! 

When the artist draws his picture he draws it 
carefully, balancing it on every side and coloring it 
with different hues and shades, that it may reflect 
the thought of the artist. 

Now we draw our picture, so that it shall reflect 
upon the world health, beauty, harmony, happiness. 
If life was right from the beginning and lived right 
all along the different stages of life's pathway, would 
it not be possible to reflect such a pen sketch ? 

But our thoughts turn us away from this, which 
might be, and we are forced to stop a moment to 
see things just as they are presented to us daily. 

We will not selfishly cling to only the bright and 
sunny side, but will portray a little of life as it 
comes to us in quite an opposite phase, though it is 
so common. 

And we readily see on looking about us on every 



BABYHOOD. 17 

side how sad the effects have been, and are, because 
of the careless thoughts, imperfect training, unjust 
decisions, unkind words, a dearth of the heart's deep 
tenderness and love, which has changed and de- 
formed the whole tenor of these young lives, which 
have received so little of the true life intended for 
them. 

What then for us and them ? Is not this respon- 
sibility resting upon the parents and guardians of 
these little* baby lives, simply appalling ? .* . ' - 

In the sadness of ignorance and lack of home com- 
forts, we begin to realize that each and all of ^us 
have. an opportunity for doing much good or harm. 
Shall we grasp these privileges or reject them? Do 
we lose or gain by allowing one of these opportuni- 
ties for doing ever so little good escape us ? 

Even one little chance for developing, ever so lit- 
tle, the inner life of those less fortunate than our- 
selves. One little effort, on our part, toward helping 
on toward a more elevated, perfected thought may be 
the very starting for them, and such a blessing 
to us. Our consciences tell us to do, and do we 
must with all our feeble energies. 

We cannot go farther along this line of thought* 
because we have just been down into the whirlpool 
of our busy city, and have been met on every side by 
the little waifs which seem to belong to city life. I 
wonder how a large city would seem could these 
poor, pinched, little lives be gathered up and made 
strong and happy. 

I think of them, sitting here surrounded by com- 



18 



fort and quiet, as thrown upon a barren waste of a 
desolated beach of want and poverty and crime, buf- 
feted by the rough waves of adversity, and, sadder 
still, of the depravity by which they are born and 
bred. 

How many are left purposely to be washed and 
beaten about, to drift back again into the seething 
current, ever and anon tossed to and fro, always 
meeting and worrying each other, contending for 
what? The right to life. 

Perchance picked up by some good Samaritan, and 
in this half -grown condition in which they are found, 
placed in crowded houses called "Homes for the 
Homeless." There left to still live on, and endure 
the best they can, the life they must live. Was there 
ever a sadder expression used for an inscription for 
doing good than this same " Home for the Home- 
less?" 

Do these words here, that you read in large letters 
over the entrance, mean love, harmony, happiness, 
development of thought, a growth of body, mind 
and soul for these little wanderers? 

What meaning does the word " home" convey to 
these little unwelcome strangers, launched forth on 
the sea of life, who have no real claim on any one, 
and hardly a right to the life they sought not, and 
•cannot put away. 

Nothing more than food and shelter, to these 
hungry, half- starved souls and bodies. These are 
clothed and fed meagerly and it is the best that 



BABYHOOD. 19 

can be done as life now is. Brain and heart dwarfed, 
cramped and starved. What can we expect from 
such, who never have half a life. 

Is it any wonder our prisons, asylums, poorhouses, 
insane asylums, and all kinds of reformatories are 
always over-crowded? The wonder to me is, how 
they do as well as they do. A few of these unfor- 
tunate ones, for it is astonishing how life strives for 
the ascendency in these who receive so little care, 
and the good things of this life, a few, only a few, 
wither and die under these blighting influences of 
poverty, ignorance and want of a purer, kinder, more 
loving atmosphere. O, Father of mercy and good- 
ness, methinks it were kinder to take them all, 
relieving the world of such a* load of sorrow, misery 
and chance for furthering the callousness of careless, 
vicious men and women. 

But as this cannot possibly be, suppose each one 
who cares to peruse these pages does simply their 
true duty toward those who need so much from out 
of our abundance. 

From our maturer, more experienced thought give 
out constantly a courageous, energetic, harmonious 
impulse toward these less favored ones. Filling 
them with a peaceful, restful influence, will not our 
courage help them to bear and conquer? 

Think toward them such words as these: You are 
gaining wisdom. You are grasping truth. Your 
life's work is just begun. Persevere. Get a little 



20 



of the good that is all about you to help you over- 
come all the impediments you are sure to meet. 

Do we not see right in this one phase the neces- 
sity of building up a love for the good, for the truth, 
for the home, which the greater part of society lacks 
in the present century? 

We do feel the past mistakes in the present day. 
We see its reflection everywhere, and the regret is 
that it seems to be increasing and not diminishing. 

Tell me, if you can, why your neighbor comes 
home in a demented condition and abuses his wife 
and children? Tell me, if you can, why the jails, 
prisons and court-rooms are always full. Tell me, 
if you can, why that child seems to rather tell a lie 
than to tell the truth, when the truth would perhaps 
have answered better. Tell me, if you can, why 
even our grown people prefer to speak ill of their 
acquaintances rather than good. Tell me, if you 
can, why thieves abound so largely in the land. 

Is not this the part that we experience in this 
present time? And is it not because away back 
somewhere something has been wrong? What is 
the wrong? Careless thought. Fathers and moth- 
ers have either been neglectful of their true duty or 
have placed all these conditions upon them, and suf- 
fered perhaps alike with them. 

Could mankind just realize that the thinking 
powers shape, model and fix in early babyhood the 
foundations for useful future years, what lasting 
good might not be accomplished, what characters 



BABYHOOD. 21 

moulded and builded in the seclusion of the nursery. 

Standing over the little sleeping innocent and 
realizing for them, in my thought, the possibilities 
and the probabilities of their future lives, some- 
times I think I would never change those chubby, 
cherub faces, had I the right to say: But keep them 
pure and good, just as they are, wishing that the 
sunny days of their protected lives might always 
be theirs. 

The thought of them now is so sweet and peace- 
ful. They are with you all the time. It is a little 
sad when we think of it, how soon this little baby 
life will merge into the near future and connect 
itself with the next advancing step. 

It seems to me this loving time of childhood, fos- 
tered in the dear home life by so much truthfulness, 
so much sincerity, so much purity, and so much har- 
mony, would be to us, who stand contemplating the 
scene, a glimpse of heaven's beauty, where light- 
hearted, joyous, happy spring life created a king- 
dom of light and truth,forever beautiful in its fresh- 
ness. 

For what are these child-angels created and sent 
to these parents who love them so dearly? If we 
look deep into our hearts, we find the answer. 
They are the little bright lights all along our path- 
way. Our ways would be dark and shaded were it 
not for the love in their little hearts. 

Each little lamp has its own name. Purity in 
this little bud of promise is so clear and white. It 



22 life's pekfected steps. 

has never been subject to change, no defective dull- 
ness has ever marred for a moment its natural clear- 
ness. 

The love of truth shines out with a beautiful sky- 
blue lustre, which leans forward and blends itself 
into the silvery light of all pure thoughts. Then 
the heart's best love giving forth its bright red, 
roseate hue, warming by its mellow light, entwining 
itself in and about the heart-strings, making for- 
tresses so strong that even the little rill, we call death, 
only carries our hearts right along, not separating, 
only binding closer in unison, these lovely heart- 
throbs between two lives. 

As these children's journey of life advances let us 
hope that all going out thus into their worldly 
experience, go holding high above their bright 
eyes, and soft curly heads, these three lamps of 
safety, purity, truth and love. 

And as their swift feet flit past us on life's jour- 
ney, may this invisible chain, so strong in its entirety, 
be the welded strength of these three in one, to hold 
and to keep them in the good way. 

This fond mother-love, which has guided and 
still continues to labor so untiringly, is something 
almost worshipful in its purity and unselfishness. 
Tt is something of which human experience is in- 
capable of really and thoroughly understanding and 
appreciating, and the child-love, coming in response, 
in its early changing development, paints to our 
imagination such a picture of contentment and 



babyhood'. 23 

sweet rest, that we feel, if we were the matronly- 
head, we should take our wee boys and girls up ten- 
derly, O, so tenderly in our strong arms, and thus 
fold them close and long, almost wishing we might 
fly to realms unknown, never once looking back 
until they were safe in the everlasting arms. 

But how could w r e build our steps if we were de- 
prived of the clear, firm young minds which we start- 
ed out with ? We must still go on with these little 
boys and girls, holding each by the hand, lest they 
soon become weary trying to keep pace with our 
long strides. 

Are they not beginning to lisp the dear names of 
those about them, to walk a little and try to run 
about? Such a little time we have had them and 
how fast they grow from this sweet babyhood into 
early childhood. We look around, baby has gone, 
and as the days and weeks roll by, how surprised 
we are to find instead of the helplessness of infancy, 
a vigorous young boy or girl romping and playing 
from morn id or till nio-ht w r itli all the abandon of a 
little, frolicsome kitten. 

Under no especial restraint, they enjoy the kin- 
dergarten life, and from early morn until the little 
birds tuck their heads under their wings, they go 
from one thing to another until their tired little 
bodies and brains find sweet rest in childhood's dream- 
land. 

We sit and watch the happy smiles, as they speak 
to us of angel visitors, on their sunny countenances, 



24 life's perfected steps. 

and gaze with so much pride on those soft, smooth, 
dimpled little faces and hands without a defacing 
line. 

We cannot resist the quiet appeal made to us from 
these silent little folks, resting so peacefully, coming 
as it does to us at this still time of the day, touch- 
ing, soothing and resting us by its very silence, 
saying to us: " He who sows well must reap well." 

We feel like consecrating ourselves anew, hoping 
and asking that our every day living may be all that 
has been marked out for us in these seven steps of 
a life just ready to start out in purity, truth and 
love. 

Dear little babies. The future of our grand re- 
public with all its various changes, the development 
of the true principles of good and true lives, the 
avoidance of the mistakes which have been made, all 
along the way of those who have entered in, lived 
and passed over, before you, the opportunity to 
achieve the grandest possibilities through truth and 
right, are snugly tucked away in those little cribs, 
and in the innocence of your little lives, the great 
possibilities are slumbering as quietly and sweetly 
as those tired little bodies. 

May this babyhood be kept pure and holy into 
every succeeding step as your life unfolds itself, 
and may your banner stand forth with a firm and 
lasting thought, saying to you, to all who know and 
love you: The perfectness of any life must be the 
good lived in that life. 



CHAPTEE II. 



NURSERY LIFE. 

Soft and strong, and loud and light, 
Heard from morning's rosiest height, 
When the soul of all delight 
Fills a child's clear laughter. 

— Sicinburn. 



O mother, nurse, and dear ones, 
Who have the tender care 
Of children in your keeping, 
Be watchful unto prayer. 

Teach them to early trust in 
The unseen hand of love; 
Teach them that watching o'er each, 
Are angels from above. 

Teach them that God is with them, 
His mission here is love, 
And when this life is ended, 
They'll dwell with Him above. 

Teach them in early childhood 
Love, truth, and chastity; 
Give them the words of Jesus, 
Who said : " Come unto Me." 



(26) 



NURSERY LIFE. 27 

We are just ascending the second step of this un- 
folding life, which is still in the early bud, remind- 
ing us of the early sunrise on a lovely spring morn- 
ing, just peering above the hills yonder. Indefinite 
because only the faint rays are visible, as this little 
loving child must always creep before it can begin 
to learn to walk. 

Another round of the ladder must be mounted, 
opening up a new phase of this always developing 
existence, which must be met and lived. Effort suc- 
ceeds effort, and judiciously the careful trainer ar- 
ranges all the minor details for this new advance- 
ment, which is so varied in every form and change. 
The same duties must be performed over and over 
again. 

There is not a very marked change at this period 
of this little one's growing life, only a gradual de- 
velopment of body and thought. So slight that the 
time passed in the cradle seems almost a part of this 
new extension, now merging into the time passed in 
the nursery with those who must make or mar, to a 
large extent, every thought of the pliable little one's 
mind. Might not this be almost classed right along 
with babyhood and nursery life, being only advance- 
ment of baby life or growing out of babyhood? 

Here the days are just as long, just as full of busy 
care, mother, nurse and children find the hours al- 
most too short for all the many calls upon their 
time and patience. How the little life is expanding 
and growing, increasing in strength and understand- 
ing, as every fibre, of the body and mind, gathers 



28 life's perfected steps. 

from the surroundings the reality which is absorbed 
so surely by the susceptible nature of the little child. 

This little mind and inner soul life is grasping 
and taking in an abundance of things needful or hurt- 
ful to this delicately organized piece of humanity. 
The sensitive ear is actively alive to every harsh 
tone or loving word, and much depends on these 
every-day occurrences. 

The careful mother spends all her spare time in 
the very necessary work found here. After caring 
for the physical needs, she will not think her work 
even begun. There is a constant weeding to be done, 
else the little minds do not thrive. They are like 
the early spring buds, the weeds must be kept out 
to allow strength and room for future flowers. And 
again, the useless branches on the slender sapling, 
must be removed that the future tree may flourish 
more vigorously. 

The weeding and pruning process is slow and tire- 
some, and much time and untiring patience is very ne- 
cessary at this particular development in the little 
child's nature, that nothing will crop out in the coming 
years to mar or deface the exquisite workmanship or 
hinder the outward progress or upward growth. 

The first efforts of the loving mother are to instill 
into her little son's or daughter's mind a lesson of 
obedience and trust which these little ones learn 
here in the every-day home life with herself and 
nurse. These are not easily accomplished, and pa- 
tience and perseverance must have " their perfect 



ISUKSEBY LIFE. 29 

work/' It is a great care for mother to always 
know when to say yes or no to the busy little brains 
who are always requiring something new to amuse 
themselves. But if obedience is required here at 
this time, how easy for both mother and child, be- 
cause it's a lesson of loving authority taught and 
learned. 

Wise little mother, do thy duty tenderly, prayer- 
fully, lovingly, and the future of your loved ones 
will be a bright and shining light in the days await- 
ing you. 

In teaching this, another lesson comes right in 
here and seems to be twin sister with this (wanting 
to have its own ivay). Selfishness and disobedience 
go hand in hand. The one seems but the shadow 
of the other, and so our next work is a lesson of 
uprooting from the very beginning the growth of 
selfishness, which is ever too rapid in its growth. 

Building up, through a devoted love, a willing- 
ness to put away from its little thought these inhar- 
monious feelings, so sure to develop and grow if 
not watched and guarded very carefully. 

In early spring you cannot tell the weeds from the 
iiowers as they first break through the soil. Just 
so these little disobedient, selfish thoughts, in very 
young children, are so subtle in their natures, unless 
guarded well and watched untiringly, before we 
realize it, these little weeds, so small at first, 
hardly perceptible to us, seem to gather the strength 
and life from the deep rich soil, and by stealth, as 



30 life's perfected steps. 

it were, purloin from these better qualities that 
which should have perfected the necessary growth 
and advancement of this bright and promising 
child. 

Has this good mother who so kindly prepares 
food, clothing, shelter, a restful home and everything 
needful for her children's comfort and happiness 
an easy task? Her every kind or thoughtless look 
or word is here recorded and reflected upon those 
nearest and dearest. Would that a sweet benedic- 
tion might rest upon each and every mother, who is 
every hour of her life, untiring in her unselfish de- 
votion to the little ones iu the homes all about us. 
The blessing would not stop with the faithful parent, 
but develop and grow, showing us in the future 
generations the power of good, wise, and pure 
thought upon the little children. 

It has been said, and wisely too: " Give me a 
child until six years of age, and I will be responsi- 
ble for what follows." If allowed the free control 
of the training of a young mind, is not, the meaning 
plain? Could words plainer be uttered by human 
tongue? Does it not mean constant watching, con- 
stant care, constant asking for guidance to know 
the right, and knowing, dare do it ? Never forget- 
ting for one moment the great responsibility laid 
upon the older and wiser mind. 

The every hour process of moulding, shaping, 
helping, guiding into a little broader and more ex- 
panded life, that the minds of these at some future 



NURSERY LIFE. 31 

time shall look back at the dear days with mother, 
father, and older brothers and sisters, at the times 
in this early seed time, when a loving home made 
heaven here. These wee toddlers will be the men 
and women then, and we must keep that thought 
ever before us, as a helper to strengthen our pa- 
tience, which sometimes weakens, as we tire of the 
daily routine of the noisy little folks constantly with 
us. 

Will the blessing from these little minds re-echo 
back to us in treading the down hill path of life ? 
Shall we hear the benediction wafted back to us, with 
a far-away sweetness, such words as these: " I owe 
all I am to the loving, watchful, untiring care be- 
stowed upon me in early childhood by my good 
parents. To them is due my success in all I have 
undertaken. I was not driven over all the rough 
and rugged cliffs which beset my inexperienced 
childish foot-steps. I was lovingly and tenderly led 
all the way. My every step was so guarded and 
guided, that my little span of childhood was like* 
sweet dreamland, with soft, bright sunlight, making 
a happy summerland, from which in future years I 
may sit and ponder and fashion, in my fancy, sweet 
pictures of rest and peace." 

This perfectness of training teaches, that harsh 
words accomplish only temporary results, that dis- 
turbed equilibriums are the direct result of discord, 
and while much is lost to the growing child of good, 



32 life's pekfected steps. 

a great inharraony of thought creeps into his nature 
and stays. 

So the less disturbance we have in the nursery, 
the less we shall be obliged to endure and overcome 
in the coming years. 

Who can describe a feeling of discontent? Can 
you put on paper, and convey its meaning, what is 
felt by the bitterest hate or the truest love ? Then 
remember this: The growing child never reasons. 
The unfolding minds of young children feel more 
than their words express. Their lives are what they 
can see, feel, and "know. The expression of their 
feelings comes to them in an outburst of tears, 
anger or blissful, merry laughter. 

" O the laugh (the laugh) of a child. 
So wild (so wild) and so free, 
Is the merriest (merriest) sound 
In the world to me." 

The child's world, at this age, is bounded by the 
four walls of home and the amusements and com- 
forts which his happy, careless life enjoys. 

He has never gone beyond the portal where the 
highest and only authority he knows is kind words, 
wise and loving counsel. The time has not come 
for him to go forth into the great whirlpool of active 
life, which would only astonish and bewilder him. 
He is only playing soldier on the outskirts. He is 
not within hearing distance of a recruiting officer, 
much less the battle of life, and as yet is innocently 
unconscious and wholly oblivious of any coming res- 



NURSERY LIFE. 33 

ponsibilities, which are only just over there awaiting 
him. 

Mothers of our beautiful little ones, what are you 
thinking? What are you doing? Does this little 
loving pen-picture, as you peruse it, awaken an in- 
terest in any other little lives save those to whom 
your tender hearts respond with such pure mater- 
nal affection? 

A little incident comes to my mind of a sweet 
little life, made doubly so by a dear friend of mine 
whose home was lonely without the happy child-life. 
She loDged, O so much, for some little loving life to 
come to brighten her own. One day she visited a 
la/iy who had a number of little ones, and they were, 
besides being destitute of the necessaries of life, 
shadowed by a wrong deed which had been com- 
mitted by one in their home. My friend felt very 
keenly all the distress here pictured. One of the 
little ones came up to her and said: " May I go 
home with you?" She felt here was her mission. 
Her heart went out to the child, and she took her 
home, lovingly cared for her, educated her, and by 
so doing commenced a good deed which keeps pace 
with her life into the future years. What a vast 
work would be accomplished if one little child could 
be clothed, warmed and fed and led into higher con- 
ditions by each one of the vast throng of people who 
have no children. 

Like this friend I mention, the good to herself 
was vastly more than to the child, for in helping the 



34 life's pekfected steps. 

growth of this little thought which was transplanted 
to her home, she broadened every avenue of her own 
undeveloped resources, and thus, by doing one good 
deed, she realized it was "more blessed to give than 
to receive." 

There are many charities, and much, very much, 
good is being done all through our land, but they 
are insufficient to do the work for which they are 
planned and intended. Individual home missiona- 
ries could do a great amount of just such good 
deeds if they would stop and think about it, and add 
to their own lives so much lasting good. 

And this recalls to mind the work conceived by 
that old, distinguished artist, who thought out the 
idea of painting two pictures, from real life entirely 
opposite in expression of thought and portraiture. 

He looked first for the most innocent, beautiful, 
attractive, perfectly developed, healthful little child, 
and became oblivious to all else in the progress of 
his art. He toiled early and late, that true perfect- 
ness might be his reward for all this arduous labor. 
He became lost to himself, realizing, by his superior 
knowledge, all this beauty that he so longed to put 
upon canvass, was now before him, and within reach 
of his aspiring hopes. 

At last, when he had painted that lovely child and 
felt that this vision of perfect innocence, love and 
tenderness, had met his ideal fancy, and he had 
received all the just praise his success merited, his 
unsatisfied ambition yearned the more to find and 






NURSERY LIFE. 35 

execute the very opposite, and he felt, before he did 
another stroke of work, he would follow up his plan, 
would find this other side, so different from his per- 
fected ideal, and thus placing the two in close prox- 
imity, the reality of each would express itself to all 
interested in works of art. 

The poor man grew weary searching after this 
distorted and ugly fancy which he so often saw in 
his dreams or meditative moods. Years passed on, 
and he sometimes felt he would give up the search 
and never try to paint this from real life. 

But one day, in passing along the street, he no- 
ticed something moving by the wayside. He, being 
attracted, stopped and gazed at what hardly seemed 
to him could be a human being. 

The picture he had so long wished to find lay 
there before him. Everything but innocence and 
beauty was portrayed in every line of the face. The 
direst poverty, the most abject misery, brought 
about by vice and crime, all were indelibly written 
on this miserable life, which was only a wreck of 
manhood and harmony. 

He was so covered up by wrong thoughts and a 
misspent life, that, as the artist worked and gazed 
into those dim, dull eyes, upon the poor, pitiable 
wreck of the good, which might have continued in 
his life, that he did not recognize in this poor, weak, 
wasted humanity the very child he had painted so 
many years ago, which then was so perfect in its 



30 life's perfected steps. 

loveliness. The little twig, so perfect in the early- 
life, was now the blighted and useless tree. 

I know this story is old, but the truth is the same 
always. The lesson it teaches helps me to show the 
jpower there is in right thought, the power there is 
in a silent good sent out to brighten and help up 
to higher conditions, to help raise to a better life 
those who cannot stand alone. Such a lesson 
teaches the power of good thought more effectually 
than much that is spoken. 

The two pictures speak a volume to us as we gaze 
from the innocence and purity of one to the covered- 
up past of the other, and tell us so truly the starting 
of this life was all right. The germs of good were 
there. But the journey was all wrong, was dwarfed, 
blighted and ruined. 

How about the guiding and moulding process in 
such a representation? Mothers, I ask you again, 
what are you thinking? 

We have seen the plastic substance in all its fresh- 
ness, and were not the seeming possibilities all that 
could be desired? Certainly the formation was not 
in fault. An underlying current came, which 
worked itself in so quietly and softly, " like a thief 
in the night," covered up and changed this God- 
given image so completely that recognition was im- 
possible. 

Fathers and mothers, does it seem to you when 
your little boy or girl, whom you so tenderly fold in 
your strong arms, whose little life is so much to your 



NURSERY LIFE. 37 

warm and never-tiring hearts, does it seem that they 
or any other bright, almost perfect, child-life could 
ever stray so far from the halls of home teaching, 
from home life ? 

When you dropped in a word of counsel of the 
love of truth, into the little one's thought, did you 
ask wisdom from on high to help build firm and last- 
ing a love of truth and right? 

When you placed a nurse in your home did you 
see and know that this foster-mother was good and 
true? Did you make it your special duty to inquire 
into the merits of her moral character, and know she 
was mentally your nursery children's equal, as well 
as your equal physically ? Did you think that the 
absorbing natures of your bright growing children 
would take in all the thought given out daily, whether 
it pertained to a morning bath, a carefully prepared 
breakfast, a romp in the play-room, a brisk walk in 
the park, an afternoon drive or the quiet early sup- 
per and the putting away at night so carefully each 
little tired body in his or her comfortably prepared 
resting place? Did you think of all this and make 
it a thoughtful study ? 

Whenever restraint was needed were you kind and 
considerate ? or was it the blow first and the counsel 
afterward? Somewhere, somehow, things go all 
wrong and the blame does rest somewhere. Is there 
not a great responsibility resting upon someone? 
Shall we shoulder this duty and live the 
to-days more carefully, feeling that the 



38 life's perfected steps. 

nourishment of the physical upbuilding is 
only secondary, that the mental growth and 
inner thought life, if wisely and judiciously handled, 
lovingly guarded, properly strengthened, will escape 
all the disfigurement, all the inharmony, all the 
scars of a battle of defeat, and by its strength, love 
and wisdom, be learning right in the nursery, right 
here with this wise leading, how to gird on the ar- 
mor of iruih and obedience so as to pass unscathed 
through the hard trials, the many temptations and 
struggles, which always come but do not always 
conquer. 

These little absorbing minds grasp right and know 
right from wrong very readily. Watch them at any 
little game. You hear: "It isn't fair!" What does a 
6-year-old child know of fairness? He knows he 
has been unfairly treated, but he could not give you 
a moral lesson on justice. He simply feels and de- 
cides in his little thinking mind that it — whatever 
it may be — is unjust. 

Did you ever tell a child somethiDg and forget or 
neglect to do as you agreed? Well, — if you did be 
sure of one thing. If you forgot or neglected it 
the child did not. 

These small receptacles so full of undeveloped 
thought tell us in such a variety of ways how the 
germs of good and truth lie so quietly and patient- 
ly waiting the direction they receive in the leading 
that comes to them step by step. 

The very smallness of any one of their capabili- 



NURSERY LIFE. 39 

ties is vast in its developed resources. Can we 
fathom the height or depth of one perfectly expand- 
ed trait of character subjected to all the successive 
changes that must disclose to our observation the 
reality contained in the hidden life with which the 
older, more experienced, mind is dealing? It's like 
the little seed; covered, we do not perceive the change 
which is constantly going on. But it's none the less 
true. 

A great good has come into the lives of our little 
folks in the many kindergartens which are springing 
up all about us. As yet they are not too numerous, 
nor will they become so. Even parents are so sur- 
prised and pleased at the knowledge these wee tod- 
dlers acquire in so short a time, and how happy they 
are in this new avenue of learning. Combining the 
changes of the little play-school so lovingly, with 
so much freedom of thought and body, that noth- 
ing is irksome; it's all happiness. So beautifully do 
they lead these smaller minds that it's like play 
time in the nursery, only something is learned. 
Some good is accomplished, and the half -day at the 
kindergarden is very bright and cheery to these 
frolicsome boys and girls not yet out of bib and 
pinafore. How they enjoy the music and the play- 
time! And how eagerly they enter into the quiet 
of the next exercise, whether it be work or study. 
Beautiful child life, would that you might go right 
on extending this happy life as free from care as 



40 life's perfected steps. 

when your little world spoke to you of naught else 
than this the lovely Springtime. 

This bringing out all we can in a child, even 
though very young, helps build and make strong 
foundations for future usefulnes. 

Thoughtless words from older people are under- 
mining in their influence over these opening buds 
of promise. "Father and mother said so." That's 
a child's law, and if we realize how strong that law 
is, at this tender, growing age, what a world of hap- 
piness might be in this great, broad universe, warm- 
ing with beautiful child-life, which now seems only 
to tire and worry us. Some one advanced a quaint 
idea: "What are men and women? Boys and girls 
grown a little taller," with a few more years of busy 
thinking, of weary plodding, days of anxiety, days 
of active life. 

We, like the little boy or girl, live, learn, distrust 
and enjoy all we can take in. So to you I will leave 
the problem at this second step of unfolding life. 

To whom does the responsibility belong? Who 
is to blame for the many half lived lives, these 
wasted and worn excuses for life all along this jour- 
ney which must be lived? It is easily solved. Do 
not be afraid to attempt its solution. You will find 
the correct answer in the intuitive God-given 
thought, which is your teacher every hour of the 
day. 

We leave our little folks preparing for the next 
advancement. They have gained many things good 



NURSERY LIFE. 41 

for themselves in the few years just past, and an 
experience which will help them as they reach the 
next round in the ladder, and as they grasp hold and 
pull themselves up one step higher, we feel thankful 
that our boys and girls have in the starting had wise 
counsel, good judgment and loving, tender care. 




SCHOOL. 



CHAPTER III. 



SCHOOL. 



"What better, what greater service can we of to- 
day render the Republic than to instruct and train 
the young."— Cicero. 



Bright little maiden, 
Happy little boy, 
Is there ought to sadden 
Your heartfelt joy? 



No — all is gladi 
We are off to school; 
Brimming o'er with happiness, 
Our little hearts are full. 

We are little children, 
Trudging down the street; 
Books and slates and pencils, 
Don't you think we're neat? 

Cheery little darlings, 
Your life's just begun; 
For you the world is smiling, 
For us our life's most done. 

We banish all our sorrows, 
Watching your blithesome glee; 
And hope that all to-morrows 
May only smile on thee. 

(43) 



44 life's peefected steps. 

Now the great world begins to unfold itself, and 
the little, playful, light-hearted children, fresh from 
the many homes, come thronging before us with all 
the careless abandon of happy, winsome childhood. 
It seems as though the many nurseries had sud- 
denly been emptied of all the life and frolic they 
contained, and that their contents were fairly poured 
in upon us. 

How they open their great, wondering eyes and 
gaze, as only a child can, into each other's faces, up 
at the walls and ceilings, and finally at her who sits 
in authority over them. 

What think you they think with those busy little 
brains? Vastly more than ive, or they, could tell, I 
fancy. Impressions are lasting. Are they ever 
more so than in early childhood? These little 
minds are soft and pliable to a tone or look. Take 
care you do not mar while trying to fashion these 
susceptible buds of promise. 

Who cannot remember how vividly some little 
thing became fixed in the memory at a very early 
age? Who cannot remember the first day at school? 
How everything, from the teacher down to the 
smallest on the front seat, seemed so august and 
formidable, and everything was so far away and un- 
approachable. 

How these little folks, laying aside dolls and 
rocking-horses, putting on a clean pinafore, with 
book and slate tucked away so carefully in a bag 
(the first school treasures), felt the weight of a 



SCHOOL. 4:5 

great responsibility resting upon their young shoul- 
ders. 

When they found themselves really there, wait- 
ing, how they fairly trembled as with an ague fit, 
until a nervous dread, sometimes, or rather more 
frequently, ended in tears. 

Well, the happy, blissful, child-life of the nursery 
and kindergarten is passed, and boyhood and girl- 
hood are fairly begun. As we look from one to the 
other, our query is : What are you thinking of, my 
little six-year-old? 

Of the long, tedious lesson which will weary your 
little brain? Of the long, dreary hours of this 
first half-day from your home life ? Of the tiresome 
waiting for school to close, when you will hear the 
welcome tones of the bell ringing out loud and clear, 
saying to you: Dinner-time, little one. 

Or does your frightened glance toward the one 
who sits at the desk, and seems to be so stern, ex- 
press how much you stand in awe of this one who is 
your teacher, and does all this strangeness which has 
come into your life fill your little mind so full that 
you can think of aught else? 

Ah, no. Can you not guess what these little boys 
and girls think of most at this first great trial which 
has come to them? This is the first going forth to 
battle. This is the first attempt at controlling and 
conquering self. 

They are thinking most of the fond mother, who 
prepared them so carefully for this school-life, and 



46 life's perfected steps. 

gave them the good-bye kiss, wondering within her- 
self how these little ones could endure this first 
breaking away from the freedom of nursery life, 
from the loving, tender heart of her who was ever 
ready to soothe, comfort and cheer them in every 
trivial sorrow. 

O, how the little child prizes the mother-love at 
this particular time. 

No one else seems like this dear, considerate soul, 
who has never been from them before. Would we 
might always keep the thought of the true mother 
stored deep in the heart's best treasure-house. 

It has by its sacred, sweet influence, saved many 
a downcast, discouraged, maturer life from ruining 
himself. 

Hark! the bell rings! The first half- day of this 
wonderful school-life is over. The little feet cannot 
get over the ground fast enough. All is bustle and 
confusion. Going home! Its a little thing, an 
every-day occurrence, but its the greatest and most 
desired opportunity for these little ones who have 
just entered school. 

How at the first moment of dismissal away they 
bound and run pell-mell into mother's arms, and 
there recount, in minutest detail, every word and 
thought that has come to them in this new unfold- 
ment, which revealed something new at every turn. 

Think you this careful, interested mother passed 
a quiet, uneventful morning? I fancy those cheery 



SCHOOL. 47 

voices and the patter of those little feet was like 
the sweetest music to those eager, listening ears. 

How could these young, active minds expand and 
grow, how could they develop, unless they could 
bring all their anxieties home to a real home inter- 
est, where dwells this true and loving mother. 
AVhere else do our weary and heart-broken young 
folks find such sweet solace as when safely cuddled 
in mother's dear arms? 

The mother at this time is the child's encyclope- 
dia. Seeking for refuge, for comfort, for peace, they 
always run for mother. She can sympathize and 
explain away all the petty annoyances of the little 
lives, and if she sometimes chides and reproves them, 
they forget the little uprising they may have felt, 
and it's all right, because mother said so. 

Little boy or girl, it is not safe for you to get too 
far away from this loved mother. If the babyhood, 
nursery life and this early school life need her so 
much, will not the days of the great future looming 
up before you need her still more ? 

O fathers and mothers, "give to him that asketh" 
love, trust, wisdom and a few grains of understand- 
ing from out your ever abundant store of useful 
knowledge, and from the weak and timid ones "turn 
thou not away." 

There is more than food and clothing in the life 
of a young, growing child. Clothe this receptive 
thought with a loving, trustful, helpful influence 
more lasting, more necessary than silver and gold. 



48 



Withhold not that confidence which is so beauti- 
ful in parents and children in the home life. Their 
joys, sorrows, pleasures, anticipations are all your 
own. They are yours, because this network of affec- 
tion makes all that comes into these young minds a 
blessing to your life. 

" Go away! I cannot bother with you! I am too 
busy!" Such words as these are used in some homes 
daily. They have such a harsh, unfeeling tone, that 
they often cover up the real confidence of children, 
and they shut themselves away from you and are 
silent. 

Do not push away from yourselves this oppor- 
tunity for doing them good. Do not allow your- 
selves to get too far away from the thoughts, in 
these young minds, just beginning to bud and grow. 
By-and-by you may wish to know what he or she 
thinks, and if now confidence is withheld, it will be 
harder to gain in the future. 

If the indolence or careless indifference is per- 
sisted in, the two natures never assimilate, and we 
wonder how it is that this child and parent are so un- 
like each other. 

You may try to excuse yourselves from this re- 
sponsibility by thinking these little ones are not 
capable of reasoning and understanding. Does not 
understanding come by leading and observation? 
Is there anything those bright eyes do not see and 
draw their own conclusions from ? 

Lead on toward the good by encouraging all the 



SCHOOL. 49 

way. "Patience," if we persevere in it, "will con- 
quer all things." Give a little extra 'time from out 
your busy thought to help feed them. You will 
never miss tbe time. It is yours to give, give it 
freely. 

And what of the teacher ? She who has entrusted 
to her care sixty or more such busy bodies and 
brains? Who sits for years and sends out upon 
each and every one of them a thought substance 
which settles upon and works itself into the lives of 
these impressionable thought receptacles. 

May our good Father guide us in word and deed 
while engaged in this work of training very young 
minds. 

" Boys flying kites haul in their long-tailed birds. 
You can't do that when you are flying words." 

What a sermon in two lines, not only among the 
little children, but we older heads might learn a 
useful lesson from this thought of careful speech. 

Sitting at the desk, looking down the rows where 
sit these sixty boys and girls, they remind me of a 
bed of flowers, with their bright, healthful, rosy 
faces looking up at the teacher, as these flowers 
seem to look up to the bright sky above them. 

The glad sunlight, like the pleasant teacher, helps 
to build up bright ideas, just as the beautiful flowers 
unfold their leaves in the warm sunlight. 

Children always make me think of a pansy bed, 
whether in groups at play or in the busy school- 
room. Children seem so near to each other. If 



50 



they are a little crowded no matter. They seem to 
rather enjoy it. 

You know a pansy-bed must be full to be beauti- 
ful. All these little flower faces upturned to the 
sun, and no two alike. Just as a room full of chil- 
dren appear no two alike. All have the same teach- 
er. The flowers have the same sun, the same dewa 
and rain, the same balmy air is wafted over all alike,, 
and all seem to grow. 

Yet no two develop the same shape, colors ov 
strength. How strange these growths of life are 
to us, in whatever form they appear. Is it not much 
in appearance like the noisy school-room of happy 
boys and girls? 

We, the sowers, drop in the seeds for the pansy- 
bed in early springtime, and soon we see them nod- 
ding their little heads, and sending forth their sweet 
fragrance wherever the summer breezes carry it. 

Their life work is beauty, sweet scent, and the hap- 
piness diffused into the lives of those who love 
flowers. 

In these bright boys and girls sitting in straight 
rows, down the aisles, we see a wider and broad- 
er field for our seed-planting. Here we put in 
the germs of the love of study, confidence in the 
teacher, and each other, a desire to please, to ex- 
cel, if possible, a willingness to improve all the 
time in careful preparation of every lesson as- 
signed them, steadily and surely developing one 
step after another up the ladder of learning. 



SCHOOL. 51 

Who says these seeds will not grow? Is there 
a more fertile place to lodge a good thought than 
in a very young mind? Or a more dangerous 
place to drop thoughtless words, unkind thoughts, 
wrong ideas, than into the mind of this little un- 
trained child? 

A breath is all that is needed to carry the 
thistle seed. A single seed is all that is neces- 
sary to produce the ugly weed. 

Then fathers, mothers, teachers and guardians 
of the growing youth, beginning with the 
most tender years. What are you thinking, I ask 
again. Let us face this responsibility, and, look- 
ing at it squarely, see just how it reads to us. 

Moulding the young minds through a love of 
truth and right. Developing into shape and beauty 
the good down deep in their hearts. Teaching 
that to be truly great one must be truly good. 

Teaching early the necessity of implicit obedi- 
ence, of loving trust, of true respect for those 
who are older and wiser than they are. Of a love 
of law and true liberty, and especially a sense of 
their duty to those who are in authority, at the 
same time to avoid all appearances of evil, to 
shun all that creates discord and confusion. Show- 
ing them how, by a true, harmonious influence, to 
build every step of early childhood, as near as 
we, with our own undeveloped natures, are capable 
of doing. 

Look at the results. Are we not at this very 



52 



time letting some light and truth into our own 
hearts and lives, gaining the good for ourselves 
'while giving out the true and noble ideas to 
them? If we have judiciously used this great 
privilege, we have taken one more stride toward 
Life's Perfected Steps. 

These lives which come under our own indi- 
vidual observation, are but a small picture of the 
great, round whole called life. These beginners 
in the drama are only the little leaven, which will, 
by its different processes, change and change, un- 
til, when completion is reached, and the work is 
finished, a clean cut, square loaf, is, in our midst, 
ready for use. 

Nourishing it will be found, because it has been 
cleansed, modeled and shaped for its mission here. 
Strengthening in its influence, because the material 
selected for the formation has been of the best. 

Now comes the satisfaction of the workman, as 
well as that which is completed, telling us by the 
true reflection, that " whatever is worth doing at all 
is worth doing well." 

Thus expanding, this young boy and girl toil on 
with more ambition up this ladder of learning, 
gaining at each advancing step something to hold 
and to keep for future use. 

This close application to books makes a better and 
stronger foundation for this life they must meet 
and live just appearing away over there behind the 
sunset hills. 



SCHOOL. 53 

Others have traveled these very same paths before. 
Their feet, too, were weary sometimes, but they trav- 
eled on and on, their young and hopeful natures 
tried to reason, tried to bear and endure, and by so do- 
ing they learned a hard lesson of patience and per- 
severance. 

From these lessons which they learn and over- 
come, who says it will not build up and strengthen 
character? Are not those who have lived this same 
experience just a little in advance, and is not their 
thought saying to these little folks: 

" Come right along, you fresh young toilers, we 
have gained a part of the victory and welcome you 
most heartily. Come right on and pick up any little 
threads we may have dropped by the way, and thus, 
by observing our* blunders, escape a few of the tan- 
gles we have been obliged to unravel over here." 

The boy or girl who masters thoroughly the fun- 
damental principles will the more easily grasp, un- 
derstand and retain higher mathematics. It's the 
early starting that must be sure and right. 

We are very carefully led all the way if we stop 
long enough to look over the field of life. The learn- 
ing thoroughly each day makes every branch of this 
work easier and better to-morrow. If we do every 
duty, "those which lie nearest to us," carefully, how 
soon the doing is over, and we wonder we ever 
thought any of our tasks were hard or tiresome. 

And so on through the seminaries, the high 
schools, and different colleges open alike to these 



54 life's pekfected steps. 

ambitious boys and girls, every step taken by them 
gains one more solid, stable part of the building so 
lately begun. As each part is but the support of the 
succeeding part, no links must be lost or broken, else 
this structure we are building might be shaky, un- 
stable and dangerous, and all time and money spent 
upon it wasted. The giving way in these weak places 
sometimes destroys the builder and those who toil 
with him. 

Notice, how, by a wrong thought, or a neglected 
duty, not only those who are the makers and plan- 
ners, but all associated with them, are more or less 
disturbed and injured. 

Our lives are a part of the great universe, 
whether lived in the present, past or future looming 
up in the dim distance. From the beginning they 
were, to the end do they endure, and who dares say 
life is not, and can be wiped out. 

Do thoughts die ? Wither away ? Come to naught ? 
The teachings of Christ to-day are lived more and 
taught in a broader, wider, better way of understand- 
ing than two thousand years ago, when a few chosen 
were told the " old, old story " of how to lire a true 
life. 

Because this silent thought element is our educa- 
tor, and it speaks to our inner life and tells us all 
what we are now, and all that we must be. 

This is wholly a God-given existence. Our life 
is directly from the Father. We must accept this 
as the truth of our lives. Then comes this thought, 



SCHOOL. 55 

our growing boys and girls will soon be our young 
men and women. 

They now fill our halls with learning, and will 
very soon, in the coming years, be our Miltons, our 
Shakespeares, our Carys, our Hemens, our Wesleys, 
our Scotts, our Wadsworths, our Longfellows, our 
Washingtons, and Lincolns. Some of them will re- 
ceive this ? intuition, and be all that our good Father 
intended. 

Boys and girls, you are not in school to copy, 
but to receive truth, and be educated. Any more than 
your brain and muscle is a copy of your great-grand- 
father's. 

To be sure you may be like him in many ways, 
but you are yourself and live your own life just 
as he lived his. You think your own thoughts just 
as he thought his. 

From every avenue of life we can look for re- 
flections of these forefathers, of these loved memory 
teachers we have been naming, and thousands more 
who belong to the great throng who have blessed 
mankind by their true lives and beautiful, living 
thoughts. They have lived to show to us how to 
attain to the truest wisdom of womanhood, man- 
hood and love of human kind. 

Lovingly we fold our hands, and with bowed 
heads, hushed hearts, listen with bated breath to 
these beautiful thought teachers, who still live for 
and with us. 

Memory carries us back over the paths which 



56 



life's perfected steps. 



their untiring feet have trod, and we linger, and 
wait, almost expecting to see them, their dear 
thoughts are becoming so real to us as we delve 
deep into these stores of wisdom they have left be- 
hind them. 

Longingly we remain listening for some one of 
to-day to step out, taking a bold stand and say, Mine 
shall be a true life. 

I will live to-day, not waiting for the morrow, lest 
by the waiting lose some good and get some sorrow. 
To the growing maiden in the home or school life, I 
can give you no truer conception of true womanly 
qualities, staunch and forcible, than those of our- 
dear friends, Mrs. Stowe and Mrs. Hayes. 

Thank God, our noble Republic has these two 
grand women to point to with a pardonable pride, 
as they stood forth alone, as it were, and dared to 
do the right thing at the right time. They, intui- 
tively, seeing the way, the truth and the life, went 
forward, faltering not. 

The one striking a telling blow at the shackles of 
physical slavery, the other going still farther, stand- 
ing at the head of the nation, firm and determined, 
giving the sharpest thrust at the greatest evil our 
land knows. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin reached the inner soul, home 
life, and stirred the hearts of the people to future 
action. That book did more to wipe out slavery 
than all the lectures and sermons ever preached on 



SCHOOL. 57 

the subject. She struck the key-note, because she 
reached the thoughts of the people. 

The absence of wine at the White House for four 
years taught this country a practical, lasting tem- 
perance lesson. 

These two noble women who lived their theories, 
and, by living them, taught others, left a beautiful 
memory behind them. Think you that this memory 
of these real living examples of truth and right. will 
ever leave the hearts of pure, good men and women, 
who owe to them such a realization of liberty? No; 
and to such true women should monuments be 
erected as lasting as those of Washington and Lin- 
coln. 

Are not these two most daring deeds remembered, 
and these two women, like our leaders, deserving 
the name of saviors of homes and people for the 
ages to come? 

So when you so quietly sit in your room study- 
ing, or are trying to conquer some knotty, intricate 
problem, know this, that this very toil, this very 
patience, this very perseverance, is making for you 
the most steadfast underpinning for a true life. 
When the ornamental work of your crude building, 
which is now in process of erection, is completed, 
you can stand back and look over your handiwork 
and feel that you, like these examples above quoted* 
have not lived in vain. 

Good-bye, my young friends, I shall meet you 
just a little later when your life will have taken 



58 life's pekfected steps. 

upon itself a little more responsibility, a little 
more of the practical and real in life. 

Your third step in life has been successfully- 
passed. Now you mount the coming, which is the 
division. You are standing looking up at its pin- 
nacle. It will be hard to reach the very limit of 
the summit. You must keep the feet braced and 
firm. 

Have you been working and waiting all along 
for the consummation of all your hopes and 
fears? Well, if you have been faithful, good and 
true all the way, this new phase of life which 
opens before you will be easy, happy and true. 

" You need fear no evil for I am with you, My 
rod and My staff they comfort and guide you." 

Remember this promise from the Master. It 
will comfort you in the closing period of your 
ever changeful life, and will help you to look 
back and review all the lights and shades which 
have been following you in Perfected Steps. 







YOUTH. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



IOUTH. 



" In the lexicon of youth, -which fate reserves for a bright manhood, 
there is no such word as— fail." 



O, happy smiling youth, 

Thou'rt changeful like the May; 
The brightness of thy truth 

Strews flowers along the way. 

Sweet buds of promise come, 

They bloom on every side; 
Of every hue and form, 

Singing of sweet Springtime. 

O, cherish all the love 

Their presence kindly brings. 
Among these perfumed flowers 

The bird more sweetly sings. 

Another leaf is turned. Our steps are ever 
forward. There is no going back to erase or even 
change a single line. Ever the watchword is 
forward! and the march is onward! 

'The irregular crooked paths are behind us just as 
they have been trodden. Will the experience we 

(61) 



62 life's perfected steps. 

have gained walking with, and guiding the helpless 
steps of infancy, so benefit us that we shall take hold 
with new energies, new aspirations, new hopes for 
the growing youth, and feel in the innermost recess- 
es of our very souls, that with us rests much of the 
success of the future manhood and womanhood of 
the lives now fairly begun. 

It does rest with us and with them, whether the 
lines of travel shall be more distinct, more safe, and 
contain more truth and understanding of what life 
means. The days of wondering are over. The re- 
ality of living impresses these young minds with a 
sense of duty to themselves and others. 

We now enter upon that stage of young, active 
life, where the young mind grasps and retains 
most easily the true and lasting principles of life. 
We feel the embryo state has so soon passed and 
given place to the better organized individuality of 
the growing boy and girl. 

He or she begins to depend on self more, and less 
on fathers, mothers, teachers and guardians. This 
gradually rounded up change comes slowly but 
surely. It's the boy and girl we have to deal with 
now. How we delight to watch this gradual develop- 
ment opening up such a variety of change in mind 
and body. 

We wait patiently, watch eagerly this rapid un- 
foldment. It's the same little twig that away back 
we bent so easily, but now it is not so pliable in our 
hands. It has grown larger and stronger in so many 



YOUTH. 63 

ways and developed more of the will power than has 
yet shown itself. 

How is it? Is the work becoming harder as we 
advance, or easier for them and for us? That de- 
pends. If the garden of this young boy or girl's 
mind has been carefully tended and lovingly 
guarded previously, we shall find it vastly easier. 
If at every step the pruning, weeding, fertilizing 
has been faithfully done, we shall find rich, mellow 
soil for our next seed planting. 

Were the unkind words met with just, careful 
consideration and checked before irritation made 
them ugly to reflect upon? Were the oaths the 
young boy gave vent to over his game of ball or 
marbles met with gentle reproof or manner, which 
left upon his thought a feeling of shame and a wish 
that the words had been left unsaid ? Were the tem- 
pests of temper, which so often came up in the home 
life, in the school life, and in fact did come up so 
frequently in the days gone by, met with a wise, 
cool judgment, saying, " Be careful, my child." 

" Nothing is gained by harshness. You are losing 
something from your life by these sudden outbursts. 
Stop and think a moment. Your good little hearts 
are full of a warm, generous love, if you will only 
stop! and think!" 

These are the weeds of discord and inharmony 
which have been revealing themselves to us, to be 
sure, but if rightly met and handled a great good 
here may be won. For self, that little foxy intriguer, 



64 life's perfected steps. 

is ever on the alert to nip at the very root of the vig- 
orous, clinging vine, but with wise, untiring coun- 
sel self must be set one side and made to know that 
this sad trait of character (alike in us all) is not the 
winner this time. 

Some of the unnecessary impediments are being 
carefully removed, overcome, wiped out, and the 
good soil is beginning to fertilize, and the better 
traits of love and truth are taking firm root, the root- 
lets are commencing to grow downward, so that these 
young twigs may stand firm, not fearing the first 
strong wind will be their ruin. 

Now we stand back, a little at one side, observing. 
These growing young minds and bodies suggest to 
us such great possibilities. What a pleasure we ex- 
perience from the knowledge we have of their good- 
ness and true worth. Every unfolded thought re- 
veals a new trait, a new heart throb of his or her 
volatile nature. Sunshine and storm succeed each 
other, and the clouds reveal the light shining through 
e'er the cloud bursts cease. O, happy child life as 
Whittier so beautifully expresses it: 

"Ah, that thou could'st know thy joy, 
Ere it passes, barefoot boy." 

No one lives so truly the "Now" as these same 
light-hearted, happy boys and girls, and no one cares 
so little for the to-morrows as these young thought 
tabernacles scattered all over our broad land. 

They live, as fast and as much as they can, believ- 
ing in their very innocence of the responsibilities of 



YOUTH. 65 

life which await them, the words of some one who 
said: 

"Who wisely lives to-day 
Has naught to fear to-morrow." 

Would that older and wiser heads might drop out 
of their busy lives much of that fret and worry 
which accomplishes so little, only wasting strength 
and vitality, and learn from these trusting boys and 
girls this lesson, — to accept and live the "Now" for 
all it is really worth to them, for the great good 
which would surely be theirs by living to-day in the 
best possible manner. 

So through our observation ive have learned wis- 
dom. What a harvest gleaned from the growing 
boys and girls of the school-rooms, of those, too, who 
have harder paths to tread, and much to contend 
against, who must toil early and late, and must 
give up to the sterner realities and necessities of life. 

School is not for these weary plodders-on. Edu- 
cation means to them hard work and long hours. Ob- 
servation and experience in these lives takes the place 
of instructor, and every day opens and unfolds a new 
page of life to this boy or girl which he or she is 
surprised at meeting. 

To these busy toilers we can send unlimited assist- 
ance by our strongest, kindest thought. To be sure 
we are not with them, we seldom see them. 

No? Wei], what can we do for them? Perhaps 
we have forgotten to tell you of the great thought 
element which travels so widely up and down our 



66 life's perfected steps. 

busy thoroughfares, and all over this great wide 
world. Resting on all it meets, stopping ever and 
anon, but never returning. 

Always finding a lodgment and staying with this 
little mind or that little mind, helping or hin- 
dering so silently the life they are trying so hard to 
live. 

We have quite a mission here, all of us. We must 
think toward such as these, with oar heart's purest, 
sweetest influence, such words as these. You are 
doing the best you can under your present circum- 
stances. You are gaining wisdom and understand- 
ing a little by every daily effort. You are by this lit- 
tle grain of wisdom helping wipe out a littlo ignor- 
ance somewhere. You are grasping after truth such 
as was taught by the Master, and by so doing you 
are helping to wipe out a few grains of falsehood 
somewhere. 

You, by this early battle of life, acquire a greater 
degree of courage, aud so, by this feeble effort, help 
to obliterate some of the fear which assails human- 
ity, and a little more of true harmony creeps into 
your heart, and no room for hatred and discord ap- 
pears to be left. 

Send this thought from your soul's truest, deepest 
and most intelligent fullness. Your life's work is 
only begun. Persevere. Go among people of re- 
finement for employment. Seek only good compan- 
ions. Form no wrong or vicious habits. Live each 
hour for good. Be faithful and true to those to whom 



YOUTH. 67 

you should give your best energies. Read good books. 
Spend your evenings in improving your mind, and 
thus develop a better physical frame. Above all, be 
temperate in all things. 

This thought helps build the character of our fu- 
ture men and women, and as it builds, blesses the 
world. 

Does such a thought-wave pervade our land ? Who 
are our thought teachers ? Our real teachers are those 
to whom our thoughts respond. Those to whom we 
can feel have our best interests at heart. This silent 
influence we feel, but do not quite understand. 

On the other hand, there is a bustling confusion 
abroad in the land which explains how our every 
thought and motive, not only affects the bustlers and 
the confusers, but all who meet the rushing current. 
On, on it sweeps, carrying with it that restless, hur- 
rying element, which outlives itself before life is half 
accomplished. Ever send forth the thought of peace 
and rest to the tired brains and hearts of the toilers 
whose burdens are carried early and late. 

By using our best inner nature in this way we 
help build up, and teach some weary, over-burdened 
life by our kindest, sincerest silence. Spoken words 
often convey two meanings, and thus lose much of 
the good thoughts intended, by the double handling 
they receive. 

I wish I could make the growing youth realize 
that their capabilities are unlimited, that they may 
attain to the very pinnacle of fame and true worth 



68 life's pebfeoted steps. 

if they so desire. That everything is before them. 
That there are no possibilities they may not reach, 
grasp and keep. That there is no going back, no 
standing still. That all is for them in the boundless 
future, more than they can possibly use. 

Who would not live a wiser and a better life, if 
allowed to go back to the commencement of this 
life and begin over again at the earliest recollection. 
Who would not avoid all the pitfalls they stumbled 
into in those far-away days of boyhood and girlhood. 
How foolish those doings enacted, in that time so 
long ago, look to us now, when we look back through 
our experienced eyes, and feel sorely depressed at 
seeing the mistakes, and misspent hours, that lie 
buried in the past. 

But this is not a looking-back time. We are 
journeying forward, and though the little song wafts 
itself over and above us, and comes riDgirig in our 
very ears, with the sweet pathos of the singer, and 
the sadder, sweeter thought of the writer, as in the 
distance it repeats itself so softly to our listening 
hearts: 

"Backward, turn backward, O, time in your flight, 
Make me a child again, just for to-night." 

Think you — do serious heart-ache called forth 
from the thought such a piteous wail of sadness. 
There is no life like the happy childhood, no care, 
no weary thoughts, that drive sleep from those 
bright eyes, or paints a wrinkle on the perfect 



YOUTH. 69 

brow of the cheery boys and girls who have only 
taken a third step in this drama called life. 

To these young hopeful natures all is bright, sun- 
ny happiness. There are no clouds in this clear, 
bracing springtime, and if there are, what of it? 
It's only an April day. The changeful youth, like 
these early days, produces a variety of light and 
shade, and before the tears, like the rain, are fairly 
seen, the merry laughter, so like the pure light, 
shining from a clear sky, bursts upon our ear, and 
we feel satisfied, because we know that nothing can 
really check, for any length of time, the real hap- 
piness of our growing boys and girls. 

To be sure some have many trials and they seem 
to them very hard to overcome. In great variety 
these are met, and in as many ways are they put 
away and controlled. To this class of growing youth 
school life is tiresome. They cannot see why the 
long days must be spent in hard study over dull, 
dreary lessons. 

They have a feeling that parents and teachers re- 
strain them too closely, and require very much more 
than is just from their over-burdened brains. They 
do not understand, with their rapidly developing 
minds, grasping and taking in every idea as it is pre- 
sented to them, that they too, are building and leav- 
ing their thoughts for others who will follow later. 
They live in their world, and are all unconscious 
that they have a thought influence for some one 
else. 



70 life's perfected steps. 

Boys and girls, you who are in the schools, behind 
the counters, in the workshops, on the broad, beauti- 
ful farms, out on the boundless ocean, wherever you 
are, you are yourself. Great opportunities are about 
you on every side. 

The boy who sweeps the store to-day, is the suc- 
cessful merchant of to-morrow. Why? Because 
he has come on by earnest, faithful effort and hard 
work, step by step. His face has ever been turned 
toward the great future that he saw before him in 
the dim distance away over yonder. He has taken 
no backward steps. He could not afford one. Had 
he stopped doing, or wavered in his purpose, he 
would never have been where he is. Truly, he who 
hesitates loses much of the good which might come 
into life and be lived and enjoyed. 

The faithful plow-boy who toiled from early dawn 
till late at eventide, is now the owner of broad acres, 
surrounded by all the comforts of a delightful, well- 
conducted home. Why ? Because he was a faithful 
and trusted boy, who could learn many lessons from 
the great world of nature about him, and combining 
his duty and his best thought, plodded on, getting 
more truth, harmony and love into his very soul, at 
the same time he was building bone and muscle. 

Does not a strong, vigorous mind need the same 
kind of physical frame? Have not some of our 
staunchest men and women of to-day been bom, 
bred and educated in just such' schools as we have 
been describing? 



YOUTH. 71 

The great, wide ocean carries out from our busy 
New York many waifs who knew no other home for 
years than the broad vessel with its tall masts and 
spreading sails, waving so gracefully in the morning 
breeze. 

Do not some of them after a few years come back 
into this same busy^whirlpool of active life the own- 
ers of their cargoes and vessels? Why? Because 
they were faithful to the work entrusted to them, 
and did the little things as carefully as those which 
seemed of so much greater importance. 

We must never forget the little drops of water 
and grains of sand, small in themselves, but when 
massed in one grand whole, what an overwhelming 
force it makes? So it is with any little deed of kind- 
ness. Never withhold a little deed of love, though 
it may seem very trivial to you. The doing may be 
so much to him or her who may chance to receive 
and keep in his or her memory the little grains of 
good. 

The careful mechanic, working early and late at 
his bench, may, over his very toil, conceive, plan 
and almost perfect some great invention which may 
some day reveal to the tiring multitude such a sav- 
ing of time and labor. 

Why? Because this simple workman has executed 
from out his busy thought all he was capable of, 
and thrown broadcast upon a receptive, thinking 
people his one grain of sand to help make up the 
grand whole. 



72 life's perfected steps. 

And to the faithful student, he or she who does 
the best work possible, each day storing up a vast 
amount of useful knowledge, to be used by them 
when needed, to be imparted to others as necessity 
requires, to perhaps be condensed, sifted and placed 
in better and easier form for those who tread these 
paths of learning later on. 

Will not your wise heads help to save time, 
strength and labor, for those who would have plod- 
ded on weary and foot-sore, and perchance have 
given up and fallen by the wayside, disheartened 
and discouraged, had it not been for your clearer, 
wiser and better judgment, in placing your ideas 
and good thoughts of each subject you have han- 
dled, before them, with your superior judgment and 
intelligence ? 

So, we leave the student at his desk, the mechanic 
at his bench, shaping and trying to bring to a bet- 
ter degree of perfection this part of his life's work. 
This digging after something, ploughing and har- 
rowing constantly every day, carefully preparing 
every minor detail, must fit these toilers for the 
very place God intended for them. 

Before they are aware, the opportunities are here. 
The broad doors are thrown wide open, the world, 
with all its possibilities, is before them, and we ob- 
serve here and there a little green place where a few 
blades of grass are just visible. Just as the true 
workers begin to feel the strength of their growing 
minds opening and expanding to the great unfolding 



YOUTH. 73 

of Light and Truth, as every new thought teaches 
them more and more the reality there is in this 
knowledge of a true life. 

This time has been one of true education, and was 
as necessary for success as were the feeble, tottering 
steps of early childhood, that the body might grow 
and perfect itself. Some good has been gained at 
every advancing period of the steps we have climbed. 

We mount another round of the ladder, and, peer- 
ing over, come face to face with our young friends, 
who have just wakened from school-life and sudden- 
ly become the young man and young woman. 

We see at a glance that the boy and girl, light- 
hearted and free, are no more. We feel sad to be 
obliged to say good-bye to these happy pleasure- 
seekers. But we know we cannot lose sight of the 
germs of good which so richly abound in their true 
natures. We feel right here like saying to them: 
" God bless and keep you always as pure and good 
to yourselves, to the world, and as true to 'He who 
careth for even the sparrows,' as the reflection of 
your happy faces tells us that you are." 

Many, in fact, most all wish to live right, think 
right and do right, but society confuses their under- 
standing of life and its requirements, and after such 
is written failure. This something, which lies like 
■ a blight over so many young lives, is one of the evils 
to be carefully weighed, considered and pondered 
over, down deep in thinking minds and hearts. 

In the first place, too much is expected on both 



74 life's perfected steps. 

sides. Each is equally fearful of the great, unknown 
future. Neither feels brave enough to go on and 
face all the many changes that must meet them at 
every new step in their young lives. 

But my young friends, this is your life, you are 
here. The more love, courage, and truth you can 
call to your aid, the greater success in life for you. 
Be brave, be good, be true. By doing right, and 
living right, your lives must know no failure. 

In this early summertime of happy trusting youth, 
when thoughts, aspirations, and the full enjoyment 
of strong bodies and active minds, are growing 
under these sweet influences, are not the true natures 
of each, as they see and know each other from day 
to day, and week to week, better benefited by this 
social communion of heart and soul? 

How like a beautiful morning, when the dew lies 
bright and clear upon the buds and flowers, waiting 
for the warm mellow light of the sun to come so 
gently and softly, just kissing away from every leaf 
and petal, the little shining drops, leaving it so fra- 
grant and sweet. It seems to me, early love in its 
freshness and purity is parallel with the rose, the 
dew, and the sun. 

Every motion of that graceful form is perfection 
to him who waits and watches with a fond lover's care. 
How the memory of every rippling laugh, is lived 
over and over again when naught else fills the soul 
but the purest affection for this heart's chosen. 

Even the touch of the hand is remembered and 



YOUTH. 75 

cherished as too precious to be spoken in words. Any- 
trivial remembrance, like a faded flower, a few lines, 
hurriedly written, have a boundless meaning to him. 
This sweet security that no one knows but himself 
of these heart-treasures. What a restful quiet con- 
trols the soul in these heart musings? Would not 
the beauty of these loving thoughts lose their great- 
est charm were any one to read this secret happi- 
ness? 

Notice the spell which seems to so silently im- 
press us as we meet and associate with these young 
friends. In so many ways we note this gradual de- 
velopment. He speaks in softer tones to mother and 
sister. He even thinks of many little kindnesses 
and does them. Why ? Because the deeper, truer 
manly nature of his inner soul-life has just emerged 
from its hiding-place and asserted itself. 

If these influences continue, rightfully brought 
out, accepted, and carefully contemplated, the dis- 
cord of his life is changed to perfect accord with 
life. Harmonious chords have been touched, and 
the vibration is perfect tune. 

This leading helps either so interested to culti- 
vate courage, love, wisdom and true understanding 
of everything connected with any two lives thus 
brought together. One such heart, stirred to 1 its 
very depths by an earnest, responsive chord, knows 
the truest happiness our lives receive. 

Pure love seeks only true and lasting love in re- 
turn. Pure thoughts respond only to purity. The 



76 life's peefected steps. 

sweetest harmony re-echoes only the perfectness of 
harmony. The bravest courage begets alike the 
entire absence of fear. Having no thought of 
evil in these lives creates for them the greatest 
good. 

All these manly and womanly qualities, lived daily 
by him or her who seeks his own, finds ready and 
willing response, and the trusting, mutual approval 
of both is understood and appreciated. 

How to her, who first realizes this being needful 
to the happiness of some other life, uplifts the soul 
and beautifies life's pathway. She sees only per- 
fectness in human form. She hears only the echo 
of that dear voice which speaks to her inner soul- 
life with the deepest tenderness, filling the heart's 
longings, and to her its tone is sweetest music. 
How these dear heart-responses permeate to the 
most hidden recesses of her trusting, loving nature, 
leaving only a restful happiness. 

Can we bear to see her go on worshiping at this 
shrine and not lift a warning voice, saying: "Do 
not worship, this is only humanity." 

But we must admire the truth, the devotion, the 
unselfishness which responds to every impulse, every 
pure and holy influence, every true and loving 
thought, which says to us, by the very silence of 
these loving, hopeful lives: "I trust and am not 
afraid." 

Were the homes of our American Republic founded 
on these pure, trusting principles of right, what need 



10DTH. 77 

would there be for divorce courts, prisons, asylums, 
and retreats for all kinds of suffering humanity. 

Were the hearts of all true men and women im- 
bued with this holy, undying affection, firm as the 
everlasting hills, "a house builded on a rock," which 
no amount of selfish, ungenerous motive could un- 
dermine, there would be fewer homeless wanderers, 
fewer homeless children and fewer homeless homes. 

More of the true would be wafted over, and lived 
through our land, and would penetrate itself into 
the by-ways of error and misery, until the glad 
cry of freedom from evil influences, would re-echo 
from shore to shore and pole to pole. 

We thank our good Father that there is such 
an element afloat in our loved country. That 
there are many good and true men and women, 
possessing rare germs of pure character, which 
are deeply rooted in hearts and homes. That there 
are many such young people just entering the 
great whirlpool of life, who prize true worth more 
than titles and estates. 

Now we, in our musing, find still another phase 
in the young lives we are following. They accept 
and carry their own responsibilities. This boy 
and girl life has led them along almost uncon- 
sciously, toward this line and up to this new and 
untried phase of life. 

The first thought of reality awakes in the 
minds and hearts of the boy and girl, left behind, 
a very indefinite idea. While they think they 



78 life's perfected steps. 

know, and do understand, we know they do not, 
and all too soon they realize that this is not 
babyhood, nursery-life, school-life or even early 
youth. 

Our picture presents itself to us now as this 
young man or maiden begins to understand this 
new awakening, as Love's young dream first dawns 
upon their inner thought, and the transformation 
to them is generally accompanied by intense plea- 
sure, or a nervous dread of they know not what. 
Why? Because the reality of beginning a home- 
life has come. And this God within speaking so 
silently says: "Awake! and face your destiny with 
your truest, purest thought and purpose." 

The young blooming maiden sees only a happy 
future before her, so carefully guarded by loving 
friends. The young, vigorous man, full of lofty 
aspirations, nothing but a successful and grand 
career, made doubly so by the affectionate, kindly 
esteem of those by whom his life is surrounded. 

It is one of the beautiful lessons of life to watch 
these shy, half-opening flowers, showing so plainly 
the love and trust of either before the roughness 
and rebuffs, which are sure to beset them, has 
touched them with the rude finger of disloyalty 
to themselves. 

Why do we use that harsh word disloyalty? Be- 
cause they are so susceptible to every thought which 
is liable to reach or touch them. 

These receptive natures just unfolding receive 






YOUTH. 79 

and absorb very easily all that might distort or beau- 
tify, and thus the thoughts and deeds of others, wafts 
itself so lightly and O, so silently, over this loving, 
trustful pair, leaving a breath of discontent, a rude 
thought, revealing an untrue sentiment expressed in 
an indifference of manner, a coldness of tone, very 
small in itself, but it has touched and marred the 
beautiful trusting love, so that the perfect bud in its 
early unfolding, which should have been the full- 
blown flower, is blighted, and never reaches ma- 
turity. 

Are not "the saddest words of tongue or pen" just 
simply these: "it might have been:" 

But let us drop the sadness right out of this very 
beautiful thought picture and paint it with the pur- 
est and fairest colors. How we wish these young 
minds, just stepping out on this broader platform, into 
the mysterious future, would just stop and think a 
moment. Stay their frivolous career, and look at 
some good, true life. How much of error might be 
avoided, and what vast resources of good might be 
realized. 

The real harmony of one's life is the truth lived 
in that life, embracing the understanding and wisdom 
that crowds out all ignorance and fear, shaping it, 
rounding it up, and finally perfecting the real thought 
for the higher and better life, which is lived only 
in a nearness with "Our Father." 

How these first thoughts of true love to these 
young, susceptible hearts softens, while it strengthens 



80 life's perfected steps. 

every other phase of the undeveloped imagination. 
"Would you, fair reader, leave this holiest, truest, 
purest of all the attributes from God unrealized? 
Does not this inner out-pouring mature and develop 
all that is noble and best from out their soul's in- 
most depths ? 

Is not this soul blending to soul the real destiny ? 
Should not all true men and women seek this rest- 
ful, harmonious trust in each other which makes a 
veritable "Heaven on earth?" 

Would it were possible for the growing youth of 
the land to-day, to know, to realize for themselves, 
that this great and pure love is from God, and 
coming from God, is the reality of life. "Love one 
another. This great command I give unto you," 
said our Master. 

The question comes and must be met and an- 
swered at this very time. How choose from the 
great throng of humanity the one who shall guard, 
love and cherish through sunshine and storm, 
through adversity and prosperity, without that vein 
of ignorance and selfishness always asserting itself 
and predominating. 

• These two characteristics have been the means of 
desolating so many, many homes. How is it pos- 
sible to separate the chaff from the bright, shining 
grains of wheat? 

Young man, young woman, this is your question, 
and you must take the responsibility of living truly 
the correct answer. You have been gleaning all the 



YOUTH. 81 

way truth and the true interpretation of it. Your 
teaching all along this path has all leaned toward 
the good you have tried to live and the error you 
have tried to shun. 

Toward the harmony you have been trying to 
weave among all the thoughts you have gathered, 
and the discord you have tried to avoid. Toward 
the wisdom and understanding, which you have 
hoarded with such jealous care, that you might not 
fall into ignorance, vice or crime. 

Toward the faith, hope and charity you have so 
unconsciously absorbed in trying to overcome self. 
Toward the love you have felt for all human kind, 
because so much happiness and trust has been your 
experience. 

And now when your life's happiness is at stake, 
when you would choose wisely and well, you should 
know you are to look for true worth. " Seek and 
ye shall find." Would you be happy, restful and 
contented in the future time to come? 

Virtues such as gentleness, kindness, courage, 
benevolence, goodness, simplicity, honesty of pur- 
pose, modesty, a true and loving heart in either one 
will make sure foundations for a peaceful, happy 
home. We almost hold our breath, for just now we 
are entering into that mysterious unfolding man- 
hood and womanhood. 

New hopes, new developments are constantly 
changing before our eyes in a bewildering panorama 
of thought, in its ever varying, changeful expression. 



82 life's pekfected steps. 

We see the lovely maiden fresh from her child- 
hood's home, where, nurtured in the most healthful 
atmosphere, she seems a perfect type of true woman- 
hood. 

As we gaze upon her, realizing her truthful, cling- 
ing nature, does she not remind us of a beautiful, 
bright June morning? The very atmosphere of 
which savors of true, unalloyed happiness. 

The very songsters warble the sweeter and mer- 
rier for her very presence. The leaves and blossoms 
about her breathe of a nearness to heaven above. 

Nothing, it seems, could detract from these Ely- 
sian surroundings. O, how soon might all be chaos 
and confusion, but that our good Father controls and 
averts any clouds or storms, and leaves to her 
the sweet bliss of peace and joy. 

Is this pen picture a reflection of the young woman 
of to-day ? Is the true ring of the metal portrayed in 
her who almost forgets her real self in her selfish 
desire for wealth, position, admiration and vain 
hopes? 

We recall the good old days of our grandmothers, 
when hearts were trustful and strong, and lovers 
brave and true. Think you, dear reader, that the 
fair cheek, and perfectly rounded form, blending 
with the truth and love, one hundred years ago, and 
the painted butterflies of our fashion plates, could 
meet and understand, or in any way assimilate, were 
they to meet in a drawing-room to-day? 

We feel sad when we even look at this reflection, 



YOUTH. 83 

whether it be man or maiden, because we know 
he or she is missing so much of the real happi- 
ness of life, and are dropping threads all along the 
way which may never be untangled. 

Now comes the most particular advising, which 
our young friends are so sure they do not need. At 
this time this inner thought must make no mistake 
when consulted. Try to know the real worth. Be 
willing to give all for all. Use no deception, have 
perfect trust, perfect love, live into a more perfect 
understanding of the truth contained in life. 

We mount the fourth step and take one backward 
glance. Wo decide we have chosen wisely. 

We are now at the zenith of true happiness. As 
we quietly sit at our window and send after this lov- 
ing two, our truest wishes for their lasting good, 
we tarry for a little time, that we, too, in retrospec- 
tive meditation, may freshen our own memories, and 
live over in thought with them "the old, old story" 
ever new, and in the dim distance, through the soft- 
ness of the summer twilight, comes to our ears, 
touching and tugging at our heart strings the sweet 

refrain: — 

"Though the heart be weary, 

Sad the day and long, 

1 Still to us at twilight, 

Comes love's sweet song." 

And now this deep affection helps them on to- 
ward all the realities which are just outside, waiting 
for these hopeful ones. They are fitted by their 



84 life's perfected steps. 

earlier experiences for these life changes, and just 
now are living in an atmosphere of serene content. 
We will not disturb their day dream, but leave them 
to bask in the sunshine of this new light which shuts 
away from their vision all traces of darkness. 




MAKKIAGE. 



CHAPTEK V. 



MARRIAGE. 



11 Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home." 



The marriage bells are ringing, 
They speak of future joy; 
Their echoes sweetly singing, 
All trace of fear destroy. 

They speak of days of loving 
In a future home so bright; 
Telling of joy and gladness, 
"Where all is peace and light. 

To us they say, God's listening 
To hear the solemn words, 
And softly adds His blessing 
In beautiful accord. 

As the grand organ peals forth the familiar wed- 
ding march, and the words, "What God hath joined 
together let no man put asunder," falls so solemnly 
on the ear, we almost tremble at the magnitude of 
this new responsibility which the lives we have been 
following a score of years have taken upon them- 
selves. 

(87j 



88 life's perfected steps. 

But we conquer ourselves; there is nothing to 
fear for these, who have chosen so wisely. E very- 
condition to the observer speaks and says: "This 
loving pair are entering the inner door of a true 
life." 

It is not lived in a few weeks and months of 
constancy to each other. It is not lived wholly in 
the spring-time of that happiness which has come 
into the souls of each and made them both purer 
and better, so that all else is as naught to them, and 
their reality is just their love for each other. 

This undeveloped, undefined germ of the soul's 
truest and best thought, has just awakened and 
knows that life is only beautiful, because of its truth 
and purity. 

This era, if rightly lived, delights the observer 
and teaches a most necessary lesson. Everything is 
purely expectancy ; they have not reached realization 
yet. 

The beauty of this time in life is the desire to 
please and do for each other. The putting away of 
selfishness on the part of either, the constant seek- 
ing to do kindly favors. This living for the good of 
one, who is ever in the heart's truest thought. 

Does not this harmonious training purify the 
mind, elevate the soul's desires and help onward to a 
life of truth and right ? Do we not see how at every 
advancing step, each must help the other? 

Each must be at his post of duty, encouraging, 
cheering in every little way the onward progress of a 



MARRIAGE. 89 

restful home life. This meeting each other half 
way is the real point to be carefully and consider- 
ately studied. What is giving up now and then, when 
true love is the mentor? 

Does not the gain come into each life alike? Is 
it not another phase of this conquered selfishness, 
which has all the way along been a formidable foe ? 
In every victory from the cradle up to the time we 
are now living, have we not strengthened our trust 
in, and our understanding of life? 

These nurtured attributes of good and wisdom 
will make such enduring timber for our castle-walls, 
of perfect character, that we shall not be obliged to 
go back to our Pilgrim fathers, to find examples of 
hearts staunch and true. To find men and women 
whose lives, whose homes, whose children, will be 
planted all through the land, like the cooling waters 
of the oases in the heated, barren deserts. Sending 
out from the fullness of the good lives they are liv- 
ing, a wave of light, and true American freedom 
more lasting, more beneficial, more helpful in its in- 
fluence than all the standing armies in the world. 

Such loving fountains of truth, imbued with the 
holy principles of a trusting life, lived every day, in 
the home, in the bustle and turmoil of business, or 
domestic care, will bring to the coming generations 
a temperate, chaste, and law-abiding race, who will 
have no need of a "Party Reform." 

Can we not see clearly the way this must come? 
It can come in no other way than in the culture 



90 life's perfected steps. 

which is taught in the homes of good men and 
women. In no other way can the ignorance, espec- 
ially among the foreign masses, ever be met and 
conquered. Hewing out this deformed branch of 
intemperance, and this bent and twisted stub of a 
branch of stiffness and ignorance, we can come to an 
understanding of how, by and by, life will be bet- 
ter and fairer than we see it at the present time. 

Such a revolution will help to overcome all the 
silliness and underlying selfishness in our midst, 
and we shall see the dross separate itself from the 
pure gold, the chaff blown to the four winds of 
Heaven, leaving only the bright, shining kernels of 
souDd, pure grain. 

Thus living for something — and being something 
more than summer butterflies of fashion and amuse- 
ment, our land would be cleansed, purified, and sus- 
tained by such a spirit of good and truth, that fifty 
years hence harmony and love would cover discord 
so completely that recognition of it were not pos- 
sible. 

Where are the robust, energetic fathers and 
mothers of the coming ages? Some are in the cra- 
dles. They are scattered all over our fair land. 
The unborn millions must feel a little of this cur- 
rent of good, true thought, and receive a little of 
its purity and innocence. Character begins its 
foundations when life begins. 

There seems to be three pictures in life, from 
which we draw conclusions. We will call them prob- 



MARRIAGE. 91 

lems, for they are intricate in character and forma- 
tion, and each must be handled carefully to get at 
the correct solution. The very poor, the comfort- 
able classes, and those who live in affluence. In all 
of these we find much to commend, and much that 
we wish might be changed. By calling your atten- 
tion to the inharmony of existing conditions, many 
of my readers will readily see and understand that 
in order to correct an evil, it, the seeming evil, must 
be wholly obliterated or wiped out. 

I would take in comparison the two extremes, 
those who cannot rise because of their poverty, and 
those who have so much more than they can possi- 
bly use, and who are too indolent and selfish to use 
their God-given wealth to correct this poorer element 
forever following after them asking their charity. 
Not really, always, wanting the good things of life, 
that belong to the wealthier classes, but asking a way 
to a knowledge of doing for themselves, which they 
seem wholly ignorant of. 

Go back into the weary lives with me and you will 
be able to trace along every backward step a mis- 
leading somewhere, and the results of past neglect 
are right with us in the present. They are for the 
wiser and more intelligent minds to solve and cor- 
rect, that the future will be freer from all that hin- 
ders perfectness here. 

The means are at hand ; why not use them ? When 
you wish to elevate a weaker brother, just teach him 
in a judicious, kindly manner how to help himself. 



92 life's perfected steps. 

Honest industry conquers all kinds of weaknesses 
and helps build up good men and women. Per- 
haps it is easier to put your hand in your pocket and 
give outright what you feel like giving. But it is 
not the best charity. That makes beggars. It never 
elevates, but hinders the growth. 'Anything which 
comes by hard, earnest effort, is always appreciated. 

Then to you, who feel yourselves ready to live 
and enjoy life. Have you not a mission? Of him 
who has much is not much required? Take into 
consideration the helping of one up a rugged path, 
and he in turn is actuated by this same good 
thought sent out by you, and does his little to an- 
other, and another, so the links are all connected, and 
at last the backward glance is taken, showing a con- 
tinuous chain of good deeds, the simple "doing unto 
others as you would that others should do unto you." 

Are not the very poor often very generous? It's 
like the widow's mite. They do all they can. Often 
we see one weak, frail woman toiling early and late 
for her little ones, by her own exertions keeping 
them all together, sending them to school, fitting 
them for some place in the near future by her un- 
selfish devotion and loving care, which will benefit 
alike themselves and the world. Just now I feel 
like asking the question: "Why do most of the 
eminent men and women, those whose names are 
written all along the pages of history, deserve the 
name self-made? Is it not because they delved 
deep and dug out for themselves the rich stores of 



MARRIAGE. 93 

knowledge which was theirs by the seeking and ap- 
propriating ? 

If by saying one word to assist the growing men 
and women I can help to wipe out one little grain 
of poverty somewhere, I am paid for many weeks of 
labor. Or if in my pen-pictures I touch ever so 
little the grains of natural selfishness, of the love of 
gain, in human nature, so that the hearts of those 
who think so little may be reached, and by that 
reaching do a small part of their duty, the mission 
of these steps in life is fairly begun. 

The children of the very poor have often more 
tenderness and loving care than those whose bounty 
affords them the privilege of entering all the social 
follies. Some mothers are from home so much that 
the manager of the nursery is the mother really. It 
is so easy to gain or lose that holiest affection of the 
little child by just letting it alone. 

These lovely duties in the dear home-life, between 
parents and children, are never realized fully. How 
dreadful ! No time for them. They must see every 
new shade and pattern of the latest fashion. No time 
to interweave the mind and heart's best thought, 
blending sweet mother and child-love in beautiful 
unison. Are not the hearts of these little children 
in these elegant mansions as hungry, and as empty, 
as those mentioned away back in the nursery where 
want and ignorance are so plainly portrayed? 

It is not money, but the love of money that takes 
out of humanity its greatest good. This home does 



94 



not know it is being robbed every hour of the day 
and night by its employes. Eobbed of something 
vastly more than riches and precious jewels. Fond 
hopes, lovely character, carefully builded and mould- 
ed, hearts purest, tenderest love, and a sweet, serene 
contentment of priceless value. 

Who realizes that pampering the pride, and kneel- 
ing at fashion's shrine has dwarfed and spoiled this 
home circle, that a great good has gone out of these 
lives never to return ? And that while these heads 
of the household have been foolishly frittering away 
their time, something which should have bound and 
held them in true bonds of love, has gone — is lost. 
These priceless jewels are no longer theirs. A little 
of Heaven has been missed without an effort on the 
part of the owners at keeping it. Who is responsi- 
ble? Where will it all end? 

Dear reader, do you know of any such losers who 
wander through life after this plan ? Does it mat- 
ter that stocks rise and fall? That great fortunes 
are lost and gained every day? 

What of your darling's love going out, peeking 
for its own every hour and finding it not? What 
of the strange ways that are so insidiously creep- 
ing into the susceptible natures which belong to 
your children ? Can you who neglect your true 
duties answer the question? 

Face the coming years, the coming lives, moulded, 
changed and lived, and because they are not as 
you planned and wished, ask yourselves — Who 



MARRIAGE. 95 

is at fault? Where is the end bringing you? 
Which way must you turn? Who must this 
responsibility finally rest upon? Where shall we 
look to help wipe out the ignorance and discord 
of such warped conditions? Right in these beau- 
tiful palaces where the gilded misery receives the 
name of home. 

Others parallel with these already mentioned, in 
all save thought, while they have wealth in great 
abundance, by their true life, by their nobleness of 
soul, diffuse through the hearts of all who live with } 
and love them, the true good of life. 

Their thoughts are so beautifully wafted over all, 
that this good from their lives, both in word and 
deed, is imbibed in all its fresh purity by outside 
men and women who need their assistance as well as 
the members of the dear home circle. 

So, in many ways the two extremes are not so 
widely apart in thought and purpose. She who leaves 
the little ones to go to her daily toil, or she who 
wishes to be rid of responsibility. 

But the happy medium is where more true com- 
fort is realized. It is so nice to not be so very poor 
or so very ignorant, and this class, as a rule, are in- 
telligent and industrious. While they have many 
comforts and pleasures, they are not overburdened 
with too much care either way, and thus lose much 
of the weariness of poverty, and the care and 
worry which comes of having too much of this world's 
goods. 



96 life's perfected steps. 

The every-day duties come right along. They 
bring with them a feeling of earnest endeavor to do 
and to be. No one in this busy throng feels that 
there is naught for him to be active about. This 
very industry acts like an incentive on his ever busy 
brain and willing hand, and the ambitions which ac- 
tuate his every motive are very commendable. 

How the goodness of the Father here presents it- 
self in the development of those who follow and en- 
joy useful employment. How it helps them to live 
happily from day to day, working for and loving each 
other. This happy couple find a foretaste of Heaven 
in the now they are living. Every day, as it is 
met and lived, gives them new strength for future 
duties. At the same time, does it not mould and 
shape itself into the hearts of their little ones' 
growth of character, which, when needed in the 
coming years, will come out from the dross, "Tried 
as by fire." 

There should be few mistakes in a real home 
life. The home circle must be the central point 
from which all else revolves. The magnet of truth 
and love should be so strong, that the drawing 
toward this true center would lead us right on in 
this line of perfected thought. Helping always 
to an outward and upward growth of mind, body 
and soul. 

Learning to bear and forbear, to overcome all 
habits of selfishness, to renew and consecrate them- 
selves anew each day. So to be the better able 



MARRIAGE. 97 

to see clearly the line of duty, and seeing it, be 
willing to live it in reality. 

With these commendable traits of character, which 
we have touched very lightly upon, in a husband and 
wife,the utmost harmony must prevail. 

Think you such a home would lack the merry 
prattle of winsome, happy children? Could we make 
of it its opposite, gilded misery, husband at the 
club, wife trying to enjoy life by covering the dis- 
satisfaction of existence in frivolous society? Ah 
no, such a state of affairs could not enter and abide 
in this home, supported by true, Divine protection. 

Why? Because ( marriage was first ordained of 
God; because this great love from God, in its right 
and purity, is diffused through the hearts of all his 
children, and is the same old, refreshing story, ever 
new, to those plodding down the long vista of time. 

There is a growing tendency at this time in the 
minds and thoughts of our American people, which 
thrusts itself upon our thought and observation at 
every turn, else we would not allude to it. Perhaps 
it is a little vein of our selfish nature, somewhere, 
which we, in our gay and blissful ramble, have failed 
to uproot. Certainly it is truth, and as we are try- 
ing to speak truth it must be said. 

Does the love of society, of frivolity, perchance a 
growing desire to keep young, to be free to enjoy 
life more, is it these selfish pleasures that are warp- 
ing, dwarfing, starving the true thought embodied 
in the home relations? 



98 life's perfected steps. 

We will classify. In entering many homes we 
find two or three children, sometimes one, often 
none. Doubtless there are many reasons and ex- 
cuses, and in great variety could this dearth of love 
in the home be explained away. But it would not 
alter the desolation, or the lack of the reality, that 
is all about us on every hand. 

vThis suggestion builds for us two pictures, of en- 
tirely opposite life and meaning. They are homely 
every-day affairs, but none the less true. 

First. We will enter the neat, comfortable, re- 
fined, perhaps elegant home. The merry prattle of 
the growing child is never heard. There are no 
finger marks on the panes of glass in the windows, 
nor bright little curly-head, watching for papa, in 
mamma's lap at the window. No little worn out, 
stub-toed shoe lying carelessly before the blazing 
grate. 

No laughing romps in the nursery before the 
good-nights are said. No chubby arms to cling 
about your neck, or sweet baby kisses to make the 
heart glad, light and happy, after the weariness of 
the 'day's toil is over. But instead, a little pug-dog 
lies curled up on the rug, and it receives all the 
love and tenderness, which belongs to this home. 

How will it be years hence when age comes to 
these desolated hearts? Are they missing any- 
thing from out the fullness of life? Where are 
the homes, and homes which should find their 
foundations here and grow from this home? Are 



MARRIAGE. 99 

they living and completing their duties of life? 
Is life's work just at the beginning, just at the 
threshold even begun? 

Why — no — . The lot of these sojourners is just 
staying, not living. By-and-by, a little in advance 
of the Now, the realization will come, and the sad 
words will be, " Too late." Ye cannot enter into 
the trust and joy beyond, with your tasks half 
completed, without giving an account of what you 
have done with your wasted energies here. 

My young friends, stepping forward into the 
whirlpool of a new, inexperienced life, does this 
illustration please your fancy? Will it satisfy the 
longings in future time to come? 

It seems easy to live and endure existence, if our 
slothful natures tell us all this is work, hard labor, 
without a daily recompense. But the sad part is 
the leaving God's work undone which should have 
been faithfully performed. The keeping of the 
" Laic of Life" which tells us by its very truth the 
height of Life's Perfected Steps is reached, that 
our life is almost half run. 

Look over your shoulders at the happy yestei- 
days, and let their bright brilliancy cast a shining, 
God-given light over the to-morrows, blessing, pre- 
serving, and keeping you clean, pure and true to 
the next unfolding. While we have this thought 
with us, we will leave this little span of our life, and 
draw on our imaginations for a better and truer life 
picture. 



J 00 life's pekfected steps. 

Eight opposite this home we have been describ- 
ing, with the desolation therein portrayed, we open 
the door and step inside, finding that which we have 
been leading up to all the way from the child's cra- 
dle and nursery-life. The genial life therein con- 
tained helps us to name this a real home. 

The young mother shows by the sweet serenity of 
her quiet grace and neat appearance, that she has 
found a restful peace of mind and quiet right in this 
little home- nook, where love's beautiful light per- 
vades and dwells. The contentment which rests so 
calmly on the placid brow speaks plainer than words. 
We feel we cannot make a mistake, for all the 
in-dwelling of sweet home-life permeates our thought, 
resting and soothing us. Our stay is prolonged and 
we wish it might be longer. 

Were there more such beginnings, more such hap- 
piness in the newly-builded homes, could Tve esti- 
mate the vast good which might be achieved and 
lived all over the world? 

The home is the past reflection we remember so 
fondly. In every stage that dear restiog-place keeps 
such a warm spot in our hearts. Even the sight of 
the home where in early life we learned to lisp those 
sweet words, father and mother, has a sacreclness we 
scarcely understand. The days at home are never 
forgotten; thoughts play around in memory's halls, 
and cheer or sadden as each loved picture presents 
itself to the mind's eye. 

Shall we, in living this new and more responsible 



MARRIAGE. 101 

life, carry cheerfully all the little, every-day occur- 
rences, living each the best we can, carefully, truly 
and successfully, never feeling that they are burdens, 
only lessons for us to learn, appreciate and use? 

Young married people, do you give this beautiful 
bright image to others, as you wander on in this 
dreamland of happiness? 

Most certainly; and your bright lights are the 
guide for others to follow after, and shape their lives 
from. You are, by such right and truth, overcom- 
ing much that is wrong and impure in this life. You 
are gaining for yourselves health, harmony, rest and 
peace of mind, a quiet contentment, a lasting happi- 
ness, which you have the right to carry with you to 
the end of time. 

May the light from our good Father, and the truth 
which we learn from oar Master's teaching, be with 
and keep you good and true, helping you in every step, 
guiding your every thought, showing you how, when, 
and where, to so live a true life, and build a true 
home, that this step you are now ascending, will be 
a lasting blessing to you and yours. 

Remember this is the prime of life, the next un- 
folding carries you over, and, lifting the veil, we 
come face to face with the first step which is more 
rapid in its descent. 




DECLINING YEARS. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



KIPENING YEARS. 



' Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore, 
So do our minutes hasten to their end." 



Bright days of golden harvest, 
Along my pathway roll; 
I've gathered joy, sweet peace, and rest, 
With which to feast my soul. 

And thus the ripening day, 
Fruited with love and truth, 
Divinely says: " God's way 
Guided thy steps from youth." 

The early spring and flowers 
Showed life had just begun; 
The summer's sun and flowers, 
The half was nearly done. 

The autumn says: " 'Tis well, 
You have not long to stay; 
Soon winter's hoary frost 
"Will bear your soul away." 

The happy and unhappy events have touched us 
again and again, sometimes lightly and sometimes 
heavily, as we have stepped, O, so carefully, all the 
way we have journeyed. That which seemed bright, 

(103) 



104 life's perfected steps. 

and that which seemed so shaded, reflecting so 
clearly all the brightness and darkness too. There 
were always little cloud-rifts with the brightest sun- 
shine, always some little ripple to disturb the placid 
water, many discordant elements to be overcome, and 
lived down and put away, as we lay off discarded gar- 
ments. 

And while these two elements contested against 
each other, how hard it all seemed, and our wonder 
was always to be followed by the query, why it had 
been thus and so in our lives ? 

Now, in reviewing it all, how easy the doing 
would be, if lived again. How, after the weary 
plodding, it seems, as we silently contemplate our 
past life, the arrangement was perfect; it was only 
the plodders who became disheartened and faltered 
by the way. As we review it all we can see the 
wisdom and love which planned all things for our 
good from the beginning. 

How at every point the perfected step awaited us, 
and was ours just by accepting and doing. How 
all along the way we met a variety of change, and 
so wisely were our steps directed that we missed 
much of that which is termed turmoil and confusion, 
and received into our very natures in its stead true 
harmony. 

How, as one thing after another followed closely, 
our every effort reminded us of the great school of 
nature. All along we heeded the leading, and as 
we struggled to overcome, every little doing on our 



RIPENING YEAES. 105 

part made us strong to endure, and the reward was 
the first fruits of realization of understanding of 
the great truth of life which came into our lives, 
and the light which penetrated the inner recesses 
of our natures. 

Just as the early blades of grass in the vast mea- 
dows seem to try to come out into the bright light 
of a perfect day. The sun is to the grass what the 
Truth is to our lives, and the sun diffuses to those 
weak little blades of grass strength, and perfection 
of growth, as does this beautiful thought element 
weave itself into and blend so carefully into the 
inner life of all of God's children. 

Going back in thought to the first blades of grass, 
flowers, buds, and trees in Nature, this ever-chang- 
ing growth says to us. "This is emblmatic of your 
every step in life." Just as they slowly came forth, 
grew and matured, so you came out in the morn of 
life, and stopping, we peer in at the hour-glass 
which has been with you from the beginning. It 
tells you how every moment used by you allowed 
these sands of time to drop, one after another, into 
the well-spent yesterdays. 

You can see for yourself how the inward growth 
worked itself along toward the full-grown develop- 
ment of all your many wanderings. 

The ripening grains and fruits of the early fall 
time tell us maturity in Nature is here. Does not 
the many land-marks you have passed tell you, too, 
of a successful series of well-spent years? of a rest- 



106 life's perfected steps. 

ful contentment, which is the consummation of the 
good there is in a true life if lived well? What 
shall we do with all these beautiful memories which 
meet us at every turn? Does it not soothe the 
spirit, help to smooth out the wrinkles, and put 
away the thought that evil abounds so surely in our 
fair land? Truly every blossom does not become 
fair fruit. In Nature it speaks and tells us so. In 
the life of humanity the same. But carefully nur- 
tured from the very beginning, perfection might 
have been possible. 

Were you ever out in a meadow ? Were you ever 
one of a party of berry-pickers? Did you ever 
look deep down in the tall, waving grass, and, as 
you separated the nodding tendrils, find, nurtured 
and shielded so carefully from the rude winds, the 
largest, most luscious, round, red strawberries? 
almost all rounded up, and waiting in their fullness 
to be gathered and appropriated to good use ? 

How gentle these long grasses seemed in their 
constant care- taking. It's like the home life where 
one is seeking perfectness, and thus having sought, 
has improved every opportunity of living truly the 
whole journey of a good life. 

How kindly nature teaches us this simple com- 
parison of life, not cramped and dwarfed, but beau- 
tifully rounded up and perfected, and while we 
contemplate the one, we intuitively accept the wise 
and well-directed Drvine Counsel as the one truth 
for us to draw from. We feel we are being watched, 



RIPENING YEARS. 107 

helped, loved and cared for, and that this leading has 
been with us all the way. 

We, too, like the happy birds in the beautiful 
groves, singing so harmoniously their sweetest notes, 
send forth our praises to "Him who ever cares for us 
in holy thought and purpose." 

We, too, in our ripening years, like the flowers, 
open up to the Giver of all these perfected privi- 
leges, and say with the psalmist: "Just and wise 
are all thy ways." 

And now as we pass the summit of the long road 
of our journey, we realize how we have, by just liv- 
ing one day after another, been gradually ascending 
to the climax of all our hopes. We are here. Have 
we not been climbing all the way? To be sure our 
steps have been many and weary, we have stumbled, 
regained our feet, and now that the limit of our as- 
cendancy has been reached and successfully passed, we 
rest ourselves a moment before going down the de- 
scending steps of these our declining years. The buoy- 
ancy of youth no longer keeps pace with our feeble, 
less active steps. The ambitions, at two score, are 
not as strong, and the vivid imagination plays not 
with every thought as in that earlier time. Our 
faith has been thoroughly tested. These thoughts 
and ideas weave no air castles for us save in a 
backward glance. Our hopes are changed, we have 
realized now two -thirds of our life- time, and though 
we shall ever hope to the closing day, oar realization 
as we have covered it at every step, does not speak 



108 life's pekfected steps. 

to us and show that it was all so easy. And charity, 
thou loveliest of virtues, how thou hast, at every 
turning point, kept thy beacon before our every weak- 
ness, showing how, when and where we most needed 
to be permeated through and through by this influ- 
ence which makes all mankind better. 

Faith, Hope and Charity, these three sisters guided 
us, helped us to overcome and live our little 
span of life, from the earliest infancy, through nur- 
sery life, early maidenhood, young manhood, into 
the newly builded home, through the busy days 
which followed, smoothing out so many of its cares, 
joys, and sorrows, until we come into the ripening 
years. The spring-time and summer-time are 
past, early autumn reminds us 

"That the melancholy days have come, 
The saddest of all the year;*' 

that this is fall-time, a gathering-in time. And is 

it not a happy time too, if well lived? 

If we have been looking forward to this restful 
period, we have woven into our busy lives and around 
our hearts-strings a labrynth of much lasting 
good. Now in gazing down the long vista of time, 
and recounting each stage as memory stirs to our 
very depths, what a vastness it presents to this 
our middle age, now that we are strong, well, and 
feel happy and energetic to grasp and go on to- 
ward the finishing of this life's work. 

Here we must loiter a moment before leaving 
the zenith, the highest consummation of all the 



RIPENING YEARS. 109 

good we have lived, and this restful light and 
truth, which has come into our lives that we have 
been waitiug and praying for. 

We feel so thankful for all this success which 
has met us so ofteu, for all the sunny bright places 
which have so cheered our every effort; for the 
Divine guidance which never lost sight of us; for 
the privilege of having been thus allowed to live, 
love, conquer and endure. And in this peaceful, 
restful, thankfulness, we cease to remember any 
of the impediments which were met and overcome. 

With just a shade of sadness we glance over in 
our mind's eye, all these bright steps we have 
climbed. What a restful quiet steals over us con- 
templating the reality of the true thought we have 
lived in every avenue of life we have passed, and 
it, the thought, sends to our inmost soul the desire 
to gird on our armor anew, for the descending of 
the other which we have been calling the down-hill 
side of life. Expressed in its fullness means gather- 
ing of the good of well-spent years. 

How well our maturer years tell us this is the op- 
posite side of the mountain, that this is not the 
springing step used in climbing, that in going 
down we must make sure and keep a strong hold 
and steady step, a mistake in our leading now 
would be disastrous and past reconsidering. Care- 
fully we plod along and as we walk we ponder over all 
we have learned. How we delight to freshen our- 
selves in the retrospective vision of memory's halls. 



110 life's perfected steps. 

The babyhood is lived again as in the olden time, 
in the little ones who belong to those other homes, 
which now we love so fondly, reminding us of that 
far-away, happy time, when we were young, brave 
and strong, and we sometimes long, O, so yearn- 
ingly, for the freshness of the early spring-time 
which has passed us again and again as we mounted 
so eagerly every step along our busy way. 

How well ive know: — 

"The mill will never grind again 
With the water that is past." 

Like the grand Mississippi, beginning at the lake 
away up in the mountain regions, so many miles 
from its great source, our far-away life has come on 
and on, grasping all the adjacent tributaries as does 
this " Father of Waters," we find ourselves nearing 
the larger, broader expanse which will soon make us 
a little drop in this vastness called the grand whole. 

Standing at the brink, realization tells us that we 
have only anticipated here-before, and by this actual 
knowing now, how the great God-given idea 
unfolds to us the thought of living truly to-day 
the best we are capable of, believing the Now is all 
we have, and all we can possibly appropriate to our 
own use. 

Looking into the future, how short the few years 
seem before we, too, shall have passed on and on 
to that vast eternity, where "we shall know as 
we are known." Where all is light and the dark- 



RIPENING YEARS. Ill 

ness is a myth. Where truth, love and harmony 
are never discounted. 

We feel that we have been overtaken by many 
tempests, but by the truth of the life taught us 
from the cradle up to this time we have weathered 
many a blast, and through the guiding we have 
received we have landed our little bark safely in 
the harbor of rest and peace. With true faith for 
an anchor, the rough billows may toss, but they do 
not harm. 

What does it matter that we have some scars and 
do seem faded and weather-beaten, and the furrows 
in our once rounded faces tell us that Time has laid 
his weighty finger upon us, not lightly, but heavily, 
and that the " silver threads among the gold" do 
predominate to a large degree in the gradually-thin- 
ning locks. 

Does the good soldier who has won many victories, 
who has come out from the contest, tired, wounded, 
and famished, falter when the call comes: Forward, 
march! and if to arms, he wavers not at these calls 
of duty. 

Are we not soldiers in this battle of life? Must 
we not move on with a steadfast step till the 
victory is won and the steps in life are done ? 

Such a summing up of a life-work, from our 
earliest recollections is a record for generations to 
accept and imitate, and as our steps grow feebler, 
our thought, the inner soul life, should gain strength 
and renewed vigor. 



112 life's perfected steps, 

We do feel a sense of rest coining to us now that 
the leaves of our past have been unfolded to our- 
selves and those dear and near to us. Every one in 
the turning revealed to us another of spotless white- 
ness without a perceptible blemish. And each one 
is now covered with a record of the fullness con- 
tained therein. 

How beautiful is the thought, that they in this 
recording, can say of us: "Those years have been 
busy and well spent. The doing was not always 
perfect, but the earnest striving after the true way, 
showed the perfect effort." 

In scanning over these memory .leaves, how we 
love to live again in the sweet communing thought ; 
the happy bygone time when we tripped merrily off 
to school, with never a trace of care and sorrow; we 
wander in thought over the many, many hours spent 
with those we loved so tenderly and dearly, and 
though it's only a memory, we love the dear re- 
membrance still. Like the scent of the roses, the 
shattered vase still holds the scent, when the change 
obliterates the picture. 

That is why we love to ponder as we keep our 
hands busy. In the far-away time we live again, 
we love again. In thought we mingle our tears again 
over the many sad, heart-rending scenes our weak 
steps felt obliged to cover, and with the sadness which 
softens our hearts, we still treasure all those heart 
memories, because they have, while they hurt our 
souls so deeply, helped us up the rugged height, 



RIPENING YEARS. 113 

and kept us pure through affliction. These helped 
to whiten the locks and deepen the furrows in our 
once smooth faces. But these are only the outward 
signs. Through the light, love and truth which 
came into our very souls, how much we gained and 
overcame. How we hoped and waited. How our 
faith was strengthened at all these places of trial. 

So now, through our experienced eyes, as we 
glance backward, we feel our mission is to help oth- 
ers just following after us. All the way we have 
been guided. Our little canoes of thought, freighted 
with all kinds of different wares, we have been try- 
ing to steer up and down the great ocean of life. 
We would fain tell our young mariners of the many 
quicksands and shoals upon which their weak crafts 
might be foundered, and their freighted vessels of 
unrevealed thought perish for lack of proper guid- 
auce. 

Of the rugged, overhanging cliffs above the 
smooth, deceptive waves, where lurk the jagged 
rocks which so surely dash their frail barks to 
pieces, tossing them so mercilessly to and fro on 
the roaring billows, we would say to these untrained 
sailors out on the tempestuous sea of life: Look for 
the never failing light-house of faith, towering high 
up, far above the roar and the tumult below. See 
the bright star, and, keeping your eye fixed on this 
safety light, which is yours by accepting and fol- 
lowing, sail on safely to the harbor of truth and 
right. 



114 life's perfected steps. 

This middle life brings to us much that instructs 
and uplifts. For have we not had a rigid disciplin- 
arian in the experiences we have met at every step? 
This teacher has wisely dealt with us at every turn, 
and the longer we live, the more thankful we feel 
for this great privilege of living. 

But we have still to face reality, and here our 
musings must cease for a while, as we proceed on 
our journey through the autumn. We have not as 
many of our old-time friends as in the early spring 
time. The fresh buds and blossoms have come and 
gone, and as we wander beneath the sturdy old trees 
of the forest, how the falling leaves remind us of 
time and change. 

Sometimes we seem almost alone, and this feeling 
would overpower us, were it not for the fond mem- 
ories which ever and anon come to us in our day- 
dreams or so silently and quietly at the restful even- 
tide. Watching the fitful blaze of the glowing em- 
bers in the grate, we fashion in our vivid imagina- 
tion the times in the happy past when the old house 
resounded with the three or four generations, who 
in those halcyon days thronged the rooms to over- 
flowing. 

From the grand-parents down to the crowing 
baby all was perfect happiness. The love which has 
been handed down to those succeeding, gave out a 
cheery welcome, and thus sitting and pondering on 
the beautiful thought pictures of the by-gone days, 
these memories flit ever and anon through the busy 



RIPENING YEARS. 115 

brain, forming within this inner life a fountain of 
perpetual youth. Every true home contains such 
blessed memories. Those who have loved and lived 
truly have enjoyed the poetry of life, from the 
romance of this experience, and a settled, contented 
home-rest makes the continuance of it placid and 
serene. 

The pleasant home evenings surrounded by loved 
friends, the caring and doing for the children's 
children. No hurrying at this decline of years. 
The step, if not feebler, has not the spring and 
firmness of the buoyancy of youth. There is a 
settled calm resting upon this going down the oppo- 
site side and we walk slowly and with care. Were 
it not for these little folks who are constantly with 
us our hearts might take on the same attitude. But 
having been freshened and watered daily by good 
and truth, we seem to enjoy these little folks more 
than we did our own in the far-away time, be- 
cause we have more time to devote to them, and 
less care to carry. 

Keally, it is a beautiful picture to see the wee tod- 
dlers trudging along with these two who are nearing 
their three-score, and they, in watching their merry 
glee, almost forget their pilgrimage is nearly done. 

How they, too, enjoy all the prattle of these little 
lives, and build bright air-castles for them, in their 
coming future, hoping and praying always that all 
will be well with them. Knowing how soon they 
will be ready to take their places and tread these 



116 

very paths, taking iheir backward glance. O, life, 
what a panorama thou art! 

How shall we ever be able to grasp ana under- 
stand God's mysterious ways? We have come along 
this leading, and how much are we able to give our 
friends of this mystery of life we have lived? 
What did we know before we had passed the present, 
how vague and undeveloped our future seemed to 
us, as every new condition of our life opened up to 
us. And the past was never lived as we wish it 
might have been. We left undone so many, many 
things, and did so many unwise and foolish things. 
This meditative mood is common to us all at times, 
and we all would improve could we once more go 
back to the beginning and pick up all the little 
threads and weave them into our life-chain. 

Still we wander on, loving, living, hoping. Every 
day lived is just one day nearer home, and still we 
linger — not caring when we see the leaves growing 
yellow and sere, on every shrub and tree, so like our 
worn bodies. The change comes so gradual to us 
we scarcely perceive it, but a passing glance in the 
mirror surprises us by telling us, too truly, by its 
reflection, saying to us the leaves are falling, the 
beautiful, fresh, green grass is withered and dry, the 
harvest is here, and the gathering in time of your 
ripening years is at hand. Your roomy barns are 
full of plenty. You have been the early, busy, 
patient toilers. You have done the little duties 
which came nearest to you, faithfully and well. 



RIPENING YEARS. 117 

Now, enjoy for a season this abundant fruitage of 
rest from labor, of the dear memories which con- 
stantly fill your thought, of the kind charities you 
have spread broad-cast, of the loving deeds which 
you never wearied of doing, of the kind and gentle 
words which live for all time in the thought of those 
for whom they were intended, of the good which 
has, through your effort, been blended into so many 
lives, and helped them up to higher conditions of 
life. 

May you quietly sit in your old arm-chair, or 
wander among the shrubs and flowers, always filled 
with that gentle peace of mind, and a blessed hope 
in a continuation of all that is good in slowly 
descending to the final summing up of a well-spent 
and useful life. 

And sitting thus, may the quiet rest of true con- 
tentment, which is a well-spring of joy, show to you 
that, had the beginning of your life been different, 
had you started out without the wise and loving 
home training, without the light of God's great 
truth placed ever before you, not in theory, but in 
practice, musing thus, after many years, we are able 
to see the answer to our question. 

Who is responsible for the training of the young 
minds ? We can look back and see how our every 
thought, in fact, how every thought, of the great 
multitude of humanity, helped build the life we have 
tried to follow. Fathers, mothers, ministers of the 
Gospel, teachers and guardians of the youth every- 



118 life's perfected steps. 

where, to you will some time be asked these ques- 
tions: What influence did you exert over that 
young, expanding mind, given into your sole charge ? 
What is the reason your son is a gambler, a drunk- 
ard, a thief, and a liar? 

Why is it that your children, or those you have 
in charge, scoff at all religious training? Why is it 
that young men and women wake up suddenly and 
realize, after they have given their best heart's de- 
votion to some good, working, religious church, that 
sincerity is lacking in those they have formerly 
looked upon as almost perfect in reverence, in prin- 
ciple and in deed? 

Why is it that the word hypocrite seems so much 
worse than a commoner one, which is called sinner? 

The mystery is being solved daily, and young 
minds are doing themselves a great injury by solv- 
ing too hastily the question. Example is better 
than precept, and a wise counsel, like a good exam- 
ple, impresses young, growing minds all the time. 
This great thought element, sweeping past us con- 
stantly, carries with it a mighty force, and if con- 
trolled by God's wise truth the end is good. 

So if these questions, Who is responsible ? What 
are you thinking toward each other, toward the 
world? are answered at all, they must be answered 
in the earliest, purest age of the young life. 

A farmer never looks for seeds to plant in the 
gathering-in time, but in early spring, when all is 
ready for the seed-planting. 



RIPENING YEARS. 119 

Going back to the worthy ones who at this three- 
score find such rest and contentment in turning the 
leaves of the past, we find good, true examples of 
men and women who have lived every day for right, 
for truth, for good. I once heard a very dear friend 
say this: "More should be expected of me than 
of those who have not been reared as I have been. 
I never heard a cross word uttered by my father or 
mother to each other. If any differences of opinion 
came up, they were never before any of the children. 

"My father was a good man. He lived quietly 
his reverence for God and all that was good every 
day. His religious services were never hurried but 
always restful and quiet. I an sure my father was 
a good man here, and is truly happy in the rest be- 
yond. " 

Could such a parent have had one of his family 
grow up not realizing truth, right, good? Could 
such a parent have had one S07i embrace the doc- 
trines of an infidel, and under such training, would 
the child wish to be unlike his father ? 

"Example is better than precept." My father, or 
my mother, is a quotation which should embrace in 
its meaning all the true nobleness which belongs to 
good true men and women. 

Then these restful home comings, such as we have 
been noting in the declining years, will be more fre- 
quent, more of the good will spread itself abroad in 
the land and less of its opposite will be lived and 
felt by the multitudes who come and go. 



120 life's perfected steps. 

The wrong thoughts will be wiped out for want 
of nourishment. The jails and all like institutions 
will be less crowded, and though it will be slow, we 
shall live to see that more can be accomplished by- 
right thought than by the greatest force. 

We have read in history, and not long since, in 
this century, how one man's judicious, quiet words 
quelled riots and created peace where all was discord 
and confusion. 

Why not try just such a thought wave with anar- 
chism, politics, the temperance movement, any great 
issues of the day? If the thinkers, I do not mean 
the schemers, for they work for themselves and not 
humanity. If the thinking masses were' to combine 
good true thought, it would fall upon the wrong- 
does like an avalanche, and the evil would flee as 
it always does before truth and right. 

All this reformation begins in the cradle and each 
day accomplishes a little lasting good. All these 
good thoughts growing everywhere, combining in 
their true thought, building up as they mature and 
adding more and more to the strength of the grow- 
ing minds, has its influence. 

Capital punishment and war were never adopted 
: by the Quakers. Their motto has always been peace, 
and has not their example been good for humanity? 
Their quiet, serene faces speak to us and answer as 
1 no words could do, saying that discord and inhar- 
mony has touched them very lightly. That the 
strife of the world which has caused the deep fur- 



RIPENING YEARS. 121 

rows and gray hairs of so many all over the land^ 
has been to a great degree left out of their simple 
lives. There is a rest in even the garb of the true 
Quaker. 

Does not this show to us in these years of resting 
from labor, how the real part of life can be lived 
quietly, honestly, and truly. How every day is just 
a little stepping-stone, and every year another round 
of the ladder accomplished. 

Treading life's pathway from the beginning to 
this time, how little we have to fear? Are we not 
in our Master's hand? and though we have lived the 
best we knew, how little we seem to have accom- 
plished, how little it all seems compared to the great 
future looming up before us. Just a few years more 
and we shall perhaps see more to do there than we 
could possibly dream of in this life here. 

Then this preparation for another and better life 
to come will be our heritage there, and the " Well 
done," which may be ours, will come to our wait- 
ing ears like the sweetest music from the far-away 
distance, soothing our very souls by its gentle 
love. 

The same old house that stands by the mill, 
No more we cross the dear old sill; 
For the busy life which once was heard 
Is hushed. — How we long for a single word. 

The breath of the fresh-mown hay's as sweet 
As in days of old when our willing feet; 
Helped us to climb to the rafters height, 
From which we ieaped with all our might. 



122 life's peefected steps. 

Our voices strong, sweet, bright and clear, 

Re-echoed our child-life, far and near; 

The happy "now" was our "all in all," 

The "io-morrows" to us, were September's fall. 

Now standing here and gazing still, 

At the time-worn roofs of the worn-out mill; 

And thinking over in silence we say, 

We are nearing now the close of the day. 

We, too, have aged like these buildings worn 
Joys, sorrows, sweet hopes have come and gone; 
The picture, to us, is both cherry and sad; 
And looking it over we feel sorry and glad. 

Because we have come to the harvest close, 
And have garnered peace, love and sweet repose; 
There's a rest comes to us in the grand review, 
Saying: "Old things are past, just grasp the new. 

Take hold with a steadfast hand, be strong, 
Your days of waiting will not be long; 
Yov have faithfully won the sweet reward, 
Enter thou in to the joy of thy Lord. 




GOING HOME. 



CHAPTER VH 

GOING HOME. 

Then steal away, give little warning, 

Choose thine own time: 

3ay not "Good Night."— bnt, in some brighter clime, 
Bid me "Good Morning:" 

— Barbauld. 

Listening to the soft tones of the music I drifted 
into sweet dreamland, and thus half waking and half 
sleeping, I seemed to wander away so silently, so 
quietly. The toilsome effort of every day surround- 
ings seemed to have passed from me and all was 
harmonious, perfect peace and rest. 

Aimless] y I continued hit journey, for such it 
seemed to be. All the way were the busy toilers 
working early and late, but my going or coming 
was passed unnoticed by them, they heeded me not 
and I too. seemed to hare little interest in them or 
their occupations. I could easily remember the busy 
days I had left behind me. but my thought was 
earnestly seeking and going out after something so 
entirely different, that they were as naught to me. 

As I proceeded this way became smoother, flowers 
of every hue and color blossomed by the wayside. 
The trees covered with the most beautiful foliage, 
teemed with all kinds of bird life and the merry 

12E 



126 life's pekfected steps. 

chirp and twitter of their harmonies delighted my 
soul. 

But as I gazed, all these varied hues of bird and 
flower almost bewildered my thoughts, so far beyond 
anything I had ever beheld was this lovely vision of 
life and beauty. Lost in deep meditation I remained 
in a transport of delight, when a little child sud- 
denly attracted my attention flitting about among the 
flower beds. 

Looking up to me with such soulful speaking eyes, 
she said: "Are you not lonely without any little 
child? Come with me and I will show to you all 
my little friends. They will be glad to see you, for 
you have a name which they have given to you; thsy 
all know you. 

"We have called you 'The Child's Thought 
Teacher. To-day we have a feast spread for you and 
all your young friends and many who love your 
teachings are there waiting to give you welcome." 
And taking me by the hand we traveled on, and on, 
so easily, so swiftly, that space and time were as 
though it was not. 

Everything that we came to, all that we passed 
was even more beautiful, a sort of expanding beauty, 
opening up something new and wonderful at each 
step of this most delightful journey. As we went 
along we seemed to say as in the olden time we 
used the words, good morning: "What think you?'' 
And the answer was distinctly heard as though 
wafted through the air by the cool zephyrs: "Peace 



GOING HOME. 127 

and Happiness. We are in the king's pathway and 
thus we find this rest by seeking the true. " 

You have labored hard to reach these beautiful, 
shaded paths, these cool, refreshing streams, these 
restful, quiet breezes perfumed by the buds and 
flowers. We will now feast you upon the riches in 
store for this true friend of the little children. 

Surely I thought this must be Heaven, such beau- 
ty, such loveliness were never the lot of humanity. 
As though reading my mind, the child looked up and 
said: "O, no. Heaven is a long way beyond this. 
This is only Happy Summer land, this is only our 
simple, every-day life. By and by when the Great 
Giver of all good calls us we shall go swifter and 
easier than we came here, to those more beautiful 
"mansions far beyond this restful place." 

We journeyed on a little farther and came to a 
more grand and picturesque place which seemed as 
though it should receive the name of happiness. 
But the child's thought again divined my question 
and said: "No, this is Contentment. You know it 
says, 'A contented mind is a continual feast' Em- 
blematic of that sentiment a feast is always spread, 
and daily we little ones go out and find our true 
heart teachers, and bring them here that they may 
see and know how much their true, good thought 
has done for us." 

My eye could scarcely take in all the vastness of 
this extensive child-life. Every variety of comfort, 
every variety of entertainment for the small aa 



128 



well as the large ones. Boats moving out from 
the shore over the smooth surface of the still 
waters, laden with light-hearted, happy children. . 

Older ones just coming in with their bright 
young faces beaming with quiet joy. I can not 
explain how this sweet rest affected me, how the 
gentle harmony seemed to pervade my inmost soul. 
I forgot my three-score years and ten and in the 
happy abandon of the -surroundings my thought 
was young, fresh and strong again. 

But I had been bidden to this feast, and how 
shall I be able to portray the vivid scene, which 
is even now in memory more plainly visible than 
any one ever seen before. 

The trees of soft green waving so silently all 
about us. The beautiful expanse of water dotted 
here and there with the gay gondolas of most 
beautiful tints and shades, whose cheery occupants, 
with their lovely, angelic faces, shed such a beauty 
and loveliness all about them. The different ani- 
mals and birds, some of them almost spotless in 
their whiteness, the rich dark colors of the song- 
sters as they flew among the branches above our 
heads, and the people who all seemed to know 
and love me, attired in loose, flowing robes, as of 
the ancient times. Portray to your imagination a 
little of the picture as it appeared to me. 

The feast consisted of everything that you could 
possibly wish for, and all that might delight the eye 
or taste. Everything was so easily accomplished. 



GOING HOME. 129 

Whatever you seemed to wish to have, was always 
ready for you. The birds caroled their sweetest 
music. Instruments of the finest tune were ranged 
about and ever and anon some one discoursed 
delightful strains upon the strings. 

I thought, I wonder when it will be time for me 
to go home. For I had a vague idea that though I 
was there and in the restful harmony which seemed 
filling my soul, I was happy, still I felt that I was 
not of them. I was only a visitor. 

The child, who seemed to act as a sort of guide, 
immediately understanding me, said: "No, dear 
friend, you are not quite finished over there. This 
is only a visit that you may know the good you are 
doing the little children. When you go back you 
will the better understand the waiting. You will 
see the dear Master's hand in all this leading, and 
the picture you have seen of the happy Summerland 
for God's little ones will help you as you journey on 
to the close." 

With this parting lesson to help me to conclude 
the "going home" of my life's pathway. I heard 
the chirp of a little bird, and then a soft chipper 
and twitter, at last breaking into a long, cheery 
strain right above my head. The sun was just 
going down over the western hills. The same old 
clock in the corner chimed out, the day is done. 
The little bird unconsciously had wakened me from 
the sweetest dream I had ever realized. But I for- 
gave him, for he, in his innocence, was happy and 



130 life's perfected steps. 

glad, and as I rub my eyes and adjust my spectacles 
I feel like turning down the light, and thus musing 
in the thought of all I have seen and heard, open 
the door of the soul, letting the fullness of the 
dream as it came to me weave itself into the better 
nature and in the solemn hour of the twilight feel 
these words have a newer and brighter meaning 
than ever before: 

" Just to let thy Father do 
What He will; 
Just to know that He is true, 
And be still." 

Still descending the down-hill side of our three- 
score years and ten we seem to have stopped doing, 
and are only "waiting till the shadows have a little 
longer grown." We are just at the shade of night 
when time seems to have drawn down the curtain 
and pinned it with the star of the perfected steps 
which are nearing the close. 

The curtains shut out from our vision the future, 
but the bright star, shining out like the grand cen- 
tral thought of truth, tells us of a well-spent life 
and a restful ending. Before the light of this beau- 
tiful memory is merged into the great, boundless 
eternity of a better and higher existence, we must 
stop and gaze with a pardonable pride on the fulfill- 
ment of the early promise. For is it not a beauti- 
ful reflection to have all the attributes of our Divine 
Teacher smiling back at us and beckoning us on- 
ward in these dear footsteps we have been watching, 



GOING HOME. 131 

saying, " Follow truth and right if you would hear 
in your aged ears the benediction: 'Well done, good 
and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy prepared 
for thee from the beginning.' " 

Do not forget there were two ways or paths 
marked out for these, who are passing so near to 
the silent unknown. The one was God's, the other 
man's. When God spake to your willing ears and 
said: "This line of duty is my direction, follow 
thou me," your willingness to be guided and led 
made you an obedient follower after good thoughts 
and purposes, and this same leading helped you 
smooth all the rough bogs along your mysterious 
path. You were simply being moved along the 
swift current of life toward safety and rest. 

When man's way became in any way the ascend- 
ant thought, you willingly, because of your former, 
accepting all the way, stopped and listened to the 
still small voice, which, if when conscience speaks 
and we heed, if not quenched or set aside, becomes 
the true prompter for all this life's course. 

Ever listening and heeding now as the sunset 
comes and covers all with its mild, warm richness, 
you do not feel you are changing at all. You are 
just stepping over another threshold and closing the 
door. You cannot return, for you have entered an- 
other more beautiful, harmonious continuation of 
this little span of life you have been so careful to 
live here, and as you wander into the great beyond 
we weave many beautiful garlands for you in our 



132 life's perfected steps. 

thought, twining in and out peace, joy, rest and 
perfect happiness to your inmost soul. 

Imagination says in watching you we have almost 
reached the goal ourselves. But reality brings us 
back with a round turn, and we understand that we 
must tarry a little longer in anticipation of these 
steps you have so successfully climbed. 

With longing we gaze after your slowly retreating 
footsteps, and a sadness comes over us for a moment, 
for we know you have gone on, a little in advance. 
You by your lovely example have paved the way for 
many a weary plodder who must follow. And now 
that the summing up has come, we see the harvest 
is very plentiful. 

How we miss all the tender gentleness which cov- 
ered and hid all that made life discordant. The 
warm hand-clasp, which simply echoed the language 
of a loving heart. The beaming eye, which has said 
so many volumes to us in the happy days gone by, 
whose very silence reflected the truest language of 
the soul. Tne kind deeds so abundant from out 
your richest store. The warm, deep sympathy ever 
ready in times of weakness and sorrow. The con- 
siderate advice or warning when most needed. The 
true courage which seemed so much a part of your 
reality. The truest love, born of that faith and hope, 
covered, wove itself into and settled upon all you met, 
and became the sweet anchor to so many weary hearts. 

How by your generous giving to others you 
builded for yourselves these " temples not made 



GOING HOME. 133 

with hands," which are your lasting monuments in 
the tablet of memories so beautifully wafted upon 
those who loved and knew you. 

Is it strange when we, in thinking over a life so 
truly lived, wait and wonder if with the fleetness of 
a bird we attempt to reach this haven of peace and 
rest, so sweet to your well-rounded, perfected lives, 
wonder over and over again it we, too, shall ever be 
successful, as you have been, and, entering into the 
more perfect understanding, reach rest at last. 

Hark! Did you hear the soft words? "Come 
unto me and I will give you rest." ? We have found 
the thought by which a true life finds guidance. 
Even from the little child this has been the leading. 
The long years past and gone were only the intro- 
duction to this happy close, and shall we feel that it 
is hard or long or tiresome? 

Just one thought at a time. Every moment was 
lived truly. Do not those soft gray locks, so silvery 
in their whiteness, sitting proudly over the wrinkles 
and heavy lines of these dear faces reflect the purest 
life we can portray? Does not every line tell its 
own little story of strength and courage, gathered 
from some struggle where self was vanquished and 
victory for the truth was won? 

We do not mind these lines of care, they are the 
signs of the victories achieved. These furrows on 
these placid tablets are so softened by the heart's 
treasures that we read at a glance the rest and peace 
shining forth from the dimly fading eye. 



134 life's perfected steps. 

Now that the stream of life is finally run, we see 
and believe that a true life to be lived right must 
start fair and square from the beginning. We 
would not ask our readers to drop out of their lives 
one little grain of the life set for them to run. But 
standing on the far-away threshold of early baby- 
hood and coming along all the way, live and over- 
come at every step all the life which has been so 
wisely planned. 

The grand oak, springing from the little acorn, to 
reach perfection in the forest, must have all the 
storms of early spring, the warm suns of summer, 
the cold dreariness of the autumn and the freezing 
snows and blighting winds of winter, before the 
little sapling becomes the pride of the forest. 

Is not the life of the child much like that of the 
acorn? And the coming along all the way, much 
the same in life? It is all sunshine and shade. The 
sunshine is all the brighter after the shadow and 
storm. 

So in musing we want to say life has really no de- 
fects; it can be all perfectness if we understood. 

When the human mind can be educated to under- 
stand perfect love, begotten under perfect love, all 
fears will be wiped away. The spring-time will be 
the happy, light-hearted seed planting. The loves 
and harmonies will be the sunny skies and warm, 
refreshing showers. The beautiful waving grain, 
waving in the storms of harvest time like the battles 
of life won. The winter's soft white mantle of purest 



GOING HOME. 135 

snow, an emblem of the life well spent, covering 
and hiding as does this carpet of purity every defect, 
every blemish, and so quiet in its very seeming, so 
pure in its mantle of perfect whiteness, that it can only 
say in its very silence as speaking to the inmost soul: 

"O, favored, one, to hold within thy breast 
Such peace, such loving trust, and perfect rest." 

To these departed loved ones, no crape, or funeral 
ceremonies are needed. The sight of these human be- 
longings would only agonize and keep the beautiful 
picture we have tried to place in these few pages 
hidden from you. Our thought and yours goes over 
into the home to which Life's Perfected Steps 
have led us on, and we feel that there, as here, well 
going on more and more into a grander and wider 
knowledge of God, of life, of truth. We are nearing 
the perfect day. 

Where we shall find "all her ways are ways of 
pleasantness and all her paths are peace." Beyond 
the archway of the flowers we see the silent city. 
Over the archway and away beyond we hear the 
sweetest music, and know the weariness of waiting is 
over, the realization of good has come and is realized. 

O, Life's Perfected Steps, 

Taken with greatest care; 
A life of love and trust, 

Makes true perfection here. 

The light and truth above, 

Blends in these hearts of ours; 

Making a Heaven of love, 
And quickening all our powers. 



136 life's perfected steps. 

Our Father's will is ours, 

We rather it were so ; 
Each year, each day, each hour, 

Fashioned our life below, 

And showed to us the way, 
That others, too, have trod; 

Where harmony and faith, 
Have led us up to God. 

When near perfection's height, 
Our steps we hasten on; 

Now all is clear and bright, 
Perfection's just begun. 

We've laid the body down, 
Our thoughts are wafted o'er. 

Truth — love divine— a crown 
Awaits us as we soar. 

Far, far beyond this realm 
Of sad and earthly things, 

We seem to find a helm 

Round which our heart-strings cling. 

We feel we're safe at home, 
No more our feet will stray; 

The better life has come, 
No darkness, all is day. 

The burdens all are left; 

We're happy, light and free. 
Our Life's Perfected Steps 

Are swallowed up in thee. 



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